A Matter of Magic
by Jenifer
Summary: Harry PotterThe Sentinel: Blair proposes to his lady, but she has a secret which draws Blair and Jim into the wizarding world. This story has been moved from TS to get better exposure.
1. One

_Disclaimer: The Sentinel belongs to UPN/Paramount and Pet Fly Productions. Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling and Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended and no money has changed hands. _

Warnings: Spoilers for Cypher, Sen2 and TSbyBS, as well as all four HP books. There's some paraphrased sections taken straight out of the fourth book in the form of flashbacks. Harry may seem a little out of character, but then, he has reason. 

Author's notes: I read the first three Harry Potter books within days of each other, all in one stretch. It occurred to me at one point that Harry had very good cop instincts. Sometimes his conclusions were wrong, but he was always aware when something was off, something a detective would definitely need. I was already contemplating putting together a Sentinel crossover when I finally got the money together to buy the fourth book. And behold, Mad Eye Moody thinks the same thing! Glee assails me! Even if he did turn out to be the bad guy. 

Here are a few things you'll need to know right off the bat. First, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published in 2000, so that's the date I'm placing it at. The end of the Triwizard Tournament took place on June 24 of 2000. This story starts just one week later, July 1, in Cascade. Also, as the U. S. has a lot more people in it than Britain, I'm giving us more than just one school. Goblet of Fire mentioned the Salem Witches' Institute, and they should do for New England, but I think six or seven more schools would be a good idea, at the least. The Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs (FBMA) is America's answer to the British Ministry of Magic. 

Part One! 

* * *

A Matter of Magic, Part One 

* * *

Ruth Canon was happy. She was lying safely in the arms of a man she had never thought she'd even consider, but who she had found to be one of the kindest and sweetest men she had ever met. He was most certainly the bravest. Detective Blair Sandburg had little more than a year ago thrown away his entire career as an anthropologist to keep his partner and friend, Detective Jim Ellison, alive and functioning as a cop. His friends in the Police Department had not taken that sacrifice lightly and had ensured him a place within their ranks. He had gone to the Police Academy and graduated top of his class. 

Ruth was happy, but she knew she had a decision to make. She had met Blair in an herb shop on 6th Street. He had been after some cold remedies. She had been looking for the ingredients for a protection spell, a birthday present for a cousin of hers who was attending Hogwarts in England. Hermione Granger managed to get into a lot of trouble at the school, mostly because she was friends with the biggest trouble magnet that the institution had seen in centuries, Harry Potter. Blair had seen her straining to reach a box on the top shelf, and when it had overbalanced and tried to land on her head, he had caught it. The incident had led to coffee at the shop across the street, and coffee had led to their friendship. Then, just six weeks ago, that friendship had blossomed into romance. She felt as if she could do anything if this man was at her side, with or without her wand. But she had not yet told him about the wizarding world or her place in it. If she intended to make this a serious relationship, she would have to tell him, and she would have to introduce him to the Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs, and the Muggle Relations and Affairs Division. 

Ruth was an auror, a detective witch whose job entailed defending the public against those who practiced the Dark Arts. Of course, Blair didn't know that. He didn't know any of it. She would have to ask him about his feelings before she felt comfortable revealing things to him. She decided that she would do it in the morning. Tomorrow was Saturday, so there would be plenty of time to deal with the aftermath of her revelations. 

* * *

Blair watched as the sun came in through the window of his room, playing across Ruth's face and through her auburn locks, giving her an angelic glow that he thought only showed what was already inside of her. He had never been happier with a woman, not even Maya. His feelings were strong, marrying strong, and he thought he was ready. It had taken a lot of sneaking to get Ruth's ring size without her knowing it, but he'd done it, and bought a platinum diamond solitaire and a matching platinum band for his own hand. He was ready to ask her, but he needed to tell Jim first. He needed his partner to know about the possibility of such a momentous change in his life, and to know that it wouldn't change their relationship. He didn't think it would, but he wanted to be safe. Too many times, one of them had made a unilateral decision that had affected both of them and nearly wrecked their friendship. He wouldn't let that happen again. 

Ruth had told him that she worked in a government job. She hadn't told him what it was, and when he'd asked, she'd said that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone. That had raised red flags with him and Jim in the beginning, before they'd started dating, so they'd taken her fingerprints off a water glass one night and run them through every database they could think of. She had come back as having a government salary, but the rest of it was classified. Blair smiled a bit as he remembered the confrontation Jim'd had with her. He had point-blank asked her if she was hanging around Blair as a part of her job and whether she was military or civilian. Blair had walked in on it and nearly had a fit, but she had just laughed. She had known that they would check her out, and she said that she understood, that cops were supposed to be suspicious. She'd said that she was a civilian, and would say nothing further on the matter, cheerfully and skillfully avoiding all further questions relating to her job. Blair had decided that he could live with it. As long as she wasn't with some group after Jim for his abilities, he could ignore her necessary secrets. 

He would have liked to lie there and watch her sleep, to see her deep green eyes when she woke, but he wanted to talk to Jim this morning, before Ruth woke up. He wanted to ask her today, so he wanted to get things settled with Jim immediately. The smell of fresh coffee told him that his Sentinel was already awake, so he gently rose from the bed, careful not to wake his sleeping beauty, and pulled on a pair of boxers and a T-shirt, and then walked out into the living room. Jim gave him a general greeting, and Blair waved an acknowledgment at him before making a quick stop in the bathroom. As he came out and went to the kitchen, he pondered how to broach the subject on his mind. Finally, pouring a cup of coffee from the fresh pot, he just started. "Hey, Jim?" 

"Yeah, Chief?" 

"How do you feel about Ruth?" 

Jim smiled behind his mug as he took a drink. "I think she's good for you. She hasn't once tried to kidnap you, drug you, or shoot you, and I've seen her apartment, so I don't think she's after your money." Ruth's apartment was twice as big as the loft and had only the most luxurious appointments. High end for a government salary, but still modest. 

Blair glared at his roommate. "Jim, I'm serious. I'm starting to think..." He paused, suddenly nervous. What if Jim didn't think it was a good idea? Would he be forced to choose between them? 

Jim suddenly realized what was going through his Guide's mind, and "serious" didn't begin to describe it. "Whoa, Chief. Are you thinking marriage here?" He was surprised. He'd never thought his partner would even consider settling down. 

Blair flinched. "Yeah, I am. But I don't want this to cause any problems with you and me." 

Jim then felt about three inches tall. "I didn't mean it to sound like that. I was just surprised. I don't guess I should have been. It's obvious how you feel about her. And don't worry about me. I think you two are great together." 

Blair sighed heavily, relieved. "You know, we'll have to move out. I don't think you want to be hearing a pair of newlyweds at all hours." That last was said with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a grin. 

Jim's own grin answered him. "Yeah. You want me to help you look for a place?" 

"Actually, 204 downstairs is vacant. I was thinking of buying it. That way we'd be close enough to you to satisfy your Blessed Protector instincts and far enough away that we wouldn't intrude on your senses." 

Jim sighed, obviously relieved. "That'd be perfect, but can you afford it?" 

"I've got some money set aside. I should have enough for a down payment on a mortgage. I think the building manager wants $35,000 for it, and I have $5,000." 

"Yeah. Have you asked her yet?" 

Blair shook his head. "I wanted to talk to you first, just to make sure we were okay. Not that it would have stopped me from asking, but I wanted to be prepared, you know?" 

Jim sighed, dropping his head. He hated that his past mistakes could have caused that kind of insecurity in his friend. "I'm sorry, Chief. You shouldn't have thought you had to get my approval. I'd never stand in your way with something like that." Jim's head popped up. "She's waking up. Tell you what, I'll go up stairs and give you two some privacy. Ask her, Chief. She makes you happy." 

"Yeah, Jim, she does." 

* * *

Ruth woke up slowly, feeling as though she should have gotten a lot more sleep. Then she remembered why she hadn't and a satisfied smile appeared on her face. A familiar voice above her asked, "What are you smiling about, beautiful?" She opened her eyes to see her love standing beside her. He sat his coffee cup on the nightstand and sat next to her on the bed. 

"You." 

"Oh, and here I thought I'd be inspiring silly grins." She giggled. "Yeah, like that." Then he leaned down and kissed her quickly. "Why don't you get up and dressed. I have something I want to show you." 

Feeling slightly mischievous, she said, "Oh, I don't know if I can do that. You might have to help me." 

He chuckled. "If I help you it won't be quick, will it?" 

"Hmm, it might not at that." 

"Go ahead. I'll have breakfast ready when you're done." Then he stood and pulled on a pair of jeans, then walked out of the bedroom. She watched him go. He had seemed nervous, not a lot, but enough to make her very curious. She wasted no time, therefore, in getting herself up and dressed, pulling on a sweatshirt and pants, and then leaving the room herself. Jim was nowhere in sight, probably still upstairs asleep. He would occasionally sleep in on the weekends, taking the free time to relax from the rigors of the job. 

She took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of toast, eggs, and coffee. "Hmm." She walked into the kitchen and sat at the table, wondering just what was up with her favorite male on the planet. He served up her breakfast with orange juice and flair, and seemed to be trying to squelch the nerves she had detected earlier. 

He addressed her with a butler's British accent and said, "Your breakfast, my Lady." 

She giggled at him. "What's got you so giddy this morning?" Yeah, that was a good description, giddy. 

He grinned. "I'll show you after breakfast." She tried to glare at him, but she couldn't make it stick. Breakfast was quickly finished and Blair got Ruth to go sit on the couch. "I'll be right back." Then he turned and went back into his bedroom to retrieve whatever it was he was so excited about. 

Blair snagged the ring box from his shirt drawer where he had hidden it. The box itself was a small work of art, having been carved by a Navaho artisan about twenty years ago. Naomi had bought it when they had passed through the man's reservation town during their travels and given it to Blair with a turquoise bracelet in it. He'd had it fitted with a bit of velvet covered foam and set the platinum solitaire inside. Now he held the box behind his back in his right hand as he went back into the living room. He saw Ruth looking at him speculatively and closed his eyes for a moment, saying a tiny prayer to whoever might be listening and then opened them again and knelt on one knee in front of her. He pulled the box from behind his back, looked into her curious eyes, and opened the top of the box to reveal the ring to its intended wearer. "Ruth Canon, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?" 

Ruth stared at the offered symbol of eternity being held out to her along with the heart of the man in front of her. She couldn't believe it! She could finally have what she had wanted for so long. She sighed closing her eyes. No. She couldn't have it yet. First she had to tell him. "Blair, before I answer you, I need to tell you some things. You may want to rescind the offer." Blair opened his mouth in denial, but she put one finger to his lips to silence him. "This is not a no, Blair. I just want you to have all the information. I want you to know what you'll be getting yourself into." She closed the ring box and set it on the coffee table, then stood up. She went around Blair to go into the bedroom and retrieve those items that would help her to explain herself, her badge and her wand. The wand had a spell on it that allowed it to be mistaken by any Muggle who looked at it to be an ordinary, if beautiful, ball-point pen. It had fascinated Blair, who always saw the head of an owl at the end of the pen, and she had wondered why. He was the only one who ever saw it, but he had never seen past the full illusion. She had imagined that he had some wizard blood somewhere in him, but not enough talent to be sent to any of the seven wizarding schools in America. 

As she sat back down, she handed Blair a thin black leather wallet. He opened it to reveal a badge and ID. The badge was unlike any other he had ever seen; a gold shield with a green lacquered dragon in the center and a banner across the bottom that said "Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs." The words "To Protect and Serve" were impressed across the top, and under that were the words "Auror, Detective First Class." The ID stated much the same, but the truly surprising thing about it was that the photo of her on the little card was moving, waving at the camera and at him. How was that possible? Magical Affairs? Auror? What was all this? 

He didn't get the chance to actually voice the questions. Ruth was a smart girl, and a detective to boot, so she had no problem knowing what those questions would be. "I'm a witch, Blair. This is not a joke or a hoax. Every government in the world has an agency dedicated to the regulation of witches and wizards, the use of magic, magical creatures, and so forth. In the United States, that agency is the Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs. I'm an auror, which is a wizard or witch who enforces those laws concerning the Dark Arts and fights against their practitioners. I'm a cop, Blair, just like you, but I have a very different jurisdiction." 

Blair's head was spinning. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. He knew, from his own experiences, that the everyday atheistic world did not hold every truth. He was a Shaman, and he'd seen a lot over the years. Hell, he'd been brought back from the dead! But this was a bit much. The woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with had just told him that there was an entirely different world out there, one where the laws of physics just didn't apply, and that she was a part of that world. It was a lot to think about. He needed more information. "What...How..?" Great! Now his much-vaunted gift of gab had deserted him! 

She smiled slightly and quoted, "Are you always this articulate?" They had sat and watched Disney's "Hercules" just two nights ago after his Volvo giving up the ghost canceled their date plans of going to the symphony. Blair had enjoyed ranting about the blatant contradictions between the movie and the actual mythology, particularly howling over the fact that they'd made Hera into a loving mother when the original had been a conniving wench who couldn't stand to allow the offspring of her husband's affair with a mortal woman lead a happy life, and so had driven him mad, causing him to kill his wife and children. Ruth had enjoyed watching him as he lectured, hands flying everywhere, a sure danger to the popcorn bowl, and clearly in his element, even with a simple children's movie. 

He snorted. "Right. Always. Ruth I want to believe you, and I'm well aware that there's more to this world than science says there is, but..." 

"But you need proof, right? That's all right. I didn't expect you to just take what I said on faith. This is too big of a change in thought to do so." She picked up the "pen" in her hand and held it up, letting it lie flat on her palm. She focused her attention on the object and Blair felt something begin to build, like a weight. It wasn't a big one, like what she was doing didn't require a lot of effort, but it was similar to what he'd felt from Corinna Santiago when she had been channeling Oshun. He hadn't understood it then, that he could sense movements of power in the spirit world, but more recent cases had given him that insight thanks to his Shamanic abilities. This weight had a different "flavor" to it, earthier, like electricity. She said, "_Patefacio!_" 

The pen, the one he'd admired so much for the beautiful carved owl's head at its end, began to shift and change shape, elongating until it was a simple round wooden wand with a short handle carved into it. Then she took it in her hand, and with a flick of her wrist, said, "_Accio!_" She had pointed the wand into the bedroom, and one of Blair's pillar candles came flying out. She caught it neatly in her left hand and sat it on the coffee table, then pointed her wand again and said, "_Lumina inflammo_." A small flame jumped from the tip of the wand to the wick, lighting the candle with little effort. 

Blair knew his eyes had to be bugging out of his head. He knew that this wasn't an illusion or a trick. He could feel the power emanating from both the wand and Ruth. How could he have missed this? 

He must have said it aloud, because she said, "There's no way you could have known, Blair. I've been very careful to not use magic around you, to keep up the illusion that I was a normal person." 

"Why?" 

Ruth took his hand. "It's international law that the wizarding world cannot become public knowledge. It has been ever since the fall of King Arthur. So much grief came from Merlin aligning himself with Uthur Pendragon that something had to be done, and the law enabled the early wizard government to punish Morgana and Morgan le Fey. No wizard may join any of the armed forces or take part in any armed conflict, and no Muggles other than those who are family to a witch or wizard may know about the wizard world. There have been other incidents that only fueled the need to keep the secret, such as Salem and the Inquisitions." 

Blair sighed. Yeah, he could see the need to keep that kind of secret all too well. Visions of Lee Brackett and Norman Oliver danced around in his head. The secret that magic was real would have the same appeal to such men as the secret that Jim Ellison was a real Sentinel. Ruth continued. "The problem is that, over time, the wizard community has become very insular. Most wizards have never set foot outside of it, and know nothing of its current events. Even those who work in offices like Muggle Relations generally have no contact with Muggles other than to wipe out memories if one accidentally is witness to a bit of magic. Now, don't worry. That won't happen to you. I'll have to get a bit of paperwork done and get you exemption status and an ID, but the obliviators won't touch you." 

Blair had started when she mentioned memory wipes. "What about Jim? He's my partner and I have no secrets from him." With Jim's sensory memory their spells might not work and he hated to think what they might do if their procedure wasn't successful. 

Ruth smiled. "I'll get him set up, too. You two are so close, you're practically family anyway, so I think there shouldn't be any problem with it." She took a deep breath and continued. "I know you have questions. So go ahead and ask." 

Blair thought for a moment. Did this change anything? Did this change who she was to him? Searching his heart, he didn't think so. "Yeah, I have a lot of questions, but there's one thing that I'm not going to question. I love you, Ruth. Nothing is going to change that, and I still want you to marry me." 

Ruth smiled brilliantly. "There's nothing I want more!" 

Blair's smile could have lit Cascade for a week. He picked the ring up off the table and slid it on to the ring finger of her left hand, then drew her close to him and into a passionate kiss. The kiss would have gone further, but there was a sudden tapping at the balcony window. They both looked up to see what it was, and Blair was shocked to see a tawny owl with an envelope in its beak tapping at the glass, for all the world looking like it was trying to get into the loft. 

Ruth wasn't shocked. She was annoyed. "Damn! This had better be life-threatening important, or I'm going to strangle me an owl." 

As she got up to open the balcony door, Blair cocked an eyebrow at her. "Friend of yours?" 

She snorted. "Not exactly. Owls are the mail carriers in the wizard world. They're quite a bit smarter than the birds of the dove family, so they can be given more detailed instructions, not to mention that they can take on some spells better than other kinds of animals. Post owls have a spell put on them to enable them to find the addressee of a letter no matter where they are in the world. If this is Eric trying to get me to come in to work today, I'm going to tell him to stuff it!" 

"Do you have any open cases right now?" 

"Nothing that couldn't wait until Monday." She opened the door and the owl hopped into the air, dropping the letter precisely into Ruth's hands, and then sweeping silently into the loft to land on the back of the arm chair. Ruth looked at the envelope with interest. "Hogwarts? Why would they be sending me a letter?" She broke the wax seal and pulled out the letter, unfolding it as she sat back down on the couch. As she read it, her expression grew suddenly tense and then horrified. "Oh my God!" 

She dropped the letter, shaking. Alarmed, Blair moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. "What? What is it?" He could feel her heart pounding through her back, so he wasn't surprised in the least when Jim came down the stairs. It had to sound like a jackhammer to the Sentinel. Blair looked back at him and looked significantly at the teapot in the kitchen. He nodded and went to put the kettle on to boil. 

Ruth seemed to pull herself together just a bit, then picked up the letter where it had fallen on the ground. "Many years ago, in England, there was a dark wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort. He was the worst criminal the wizarding world had seen since Morgana. He was charismatic, so he had quite a large following. He also followed a 'Join me or die' policy, and he killed any who stood in his way. His group killed over a hundred Muggles before they were stopped, as well as quite a lot of wizards. They would torture people to the point of insanity and then let them go. They did so many terrible things! Voldemort could have taken over the world if he'd been given enough time, and Muggles would likely have been enslaved. Fortunately, he was finally defeated, and by an avenue that no one expected. He broke into the home of James and Lily Potter, intent on killing them and their year-old son, Harry. He killed James and Lilly, but when he turned his magic on Harry, something happened. The spell was somehow deflected, leaving the baby with only a lightening-shaped scar and leaving Voldemort so close to dead that most didn't think he would ever be a problem again. Turned out he had been living off of unicorn blood in the dark forest that surrounds Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Harry was attending school. He nearly managed to come back that year, using the Sorcerer's Stone, but Harry stopped him and the Stone was destroyed. Apparently, though, this didn't completely stop Voldemort." She indicated the letter. "That's from Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts. He didn't give me many details, but Voldemort has been resurrected somehow. He's already killed one student, and he nearly killed Harry, but the kid managed to defend himself. The British Minister of Magic is playing ostrich, so Dumbledore is taking the matter of protecting Harry into his own hands. He's asking me to go to England and help out." 

Jim came around the couch, two cups of tea in hand, and handed one to Ruth. She looked up at him and could tell by his face that he had heard what they were talking about. He didn't make an issue of it, instead just going straight into cop mode. "So why is he contacting you personally instead of the Bureau?" 

Deciding she'd ask how he'd heard everything later, she just raised an eyebrow at him and answered his question. "He wouldn't be able to do that. With the British Ministry ignoring the problem, there's no way he can involve the Bureau officially. If I tried to step onto British soil in an official capacity without either informing or involving the Ministry, I'd be deported so fast your head would spin, not to mention the possibility that it could spark an international incident." She sighed. "What a mess! I've got to figure out a reason to get myself to England without raising suspicions as to why I'm there. I need a legitimate reason." 

Blair had seen the problem and was trying to think of a solution. "Didn't you tell me you have family over there?" 

"Yes. In fact, my cousin, Hermione Granger, goes to school with Harry. They're in the same year." 

Blair grinned. "Well, you definitely have something to tell them." He reached out and took her left hand, fingering the engagement ring. He knew that she was going. He knew that she had to help protect this boy, but it was going to hurt not having her around. Still, he couldn't ask her not to go. Neither of them would ever be able to forgive themselves if something happened and they had refused to help. 

Ruth looked at him. "Are you okay with this?" 

He sighed. "No. I want you here with me. But we both know that's not an option. No matter what your jurisdiction is, you're still a cop, still a warrior for the tribe, and you're called to fight. If you didn't go, you wouldn't be the woman I fell in love with." She nodded. Blair couldn't stand it any longer and pulled her into a kiss. 

Jim turned away to give them some privacy, which lead him to look at the owl that was sitting patiently on the back of the armchair for a response. He could have sworn the animal winked at him. Maybe it had. From what Ruth had said, post owls were far more intelligent than their wild cousins, possibly enough to understand human relationships and body language. He wondered how many other surprises were in store for his partner and he when they were eventually fully introduced to the wizard world. 

* * *

Ruth parked her car in the garage of the government building that housed the FBMA offices in Cascade and went to the small magically disguised doorway. There were two doorways, one normal that lead to a secretary who's job it was to deal with any Muggles who wondered into the building or Muggle officials, like building inspectors or police, and one which lead to the heart of the FBMA offices. She went to the end of the hallway and into the magic elevator, taking it to the fifth floor, which housed the auror division. The auror bullpen was a lot like the Major Crimes bullpen, rows of office desks, several detectives in suits working on their own cases. The only differences were in what was on the desks, and that was quite a difference. Ruth had only been to work once with Blair, picking him up for lunch one day, but she had been struck by the similarities between that office and her own. 

She quickly went to the office at the back of the bullpen, the office of her Captain, Eric Swacky. She knocked and went in as soon as the voice inside said to. Eric Swacky was a tall man, with bright red hair and green eyes, and a build that showed he had played a lot of Quiditch in his time. He still did occasionally, and he made sure to keep his body fit. He was currently working on trying to adapt the Muggle coffee maker to work on a magic power source since electricity wouldn't work in the building above the second floor. He was as bad about coffee as any of the detectives at the CPD. He addressed her in his pleasant tenor, a voice that could darken in anger to frighten an evil wizard into fouling themselves. "What are you doing here on your day off, Canon? I thought you'd be dating that Muggle of yours. What was his name again?" 

She grinned. "Blair Sandburg, sir. And I have a few things I need to discuss with you. First, the happy news. Blair proposed!" 

Swacky grinned. "That's great, Ruth! I really think he's good for you. Not like that last creep you were dating, the one who worked with the Bigfeet in the Cascade Mountains. I thought you were going to rip his head off!" 

She glared at him good naturedly. "Since when is it your job to police my love life?" 

"It's not my job, just one of the perks. So what's the not-so-happy news?" 

Ruth sobered quickly. "I just got an owl this morning from Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort is back." 

Swacky paled. "Why wasn't I informed?" 

"Apparently, thanks to some nasty tabloid reporting by Rita Skeeter, the British Minister is of the opinion that Harry Potter is mentally unstable and doesn't choose to believe his warning. I don't know why anyone ever pays heed to that woman! She always mis-quotes people!" She sighed. "Anyway, Dumbledore has asked me to go to England and help to protect the boy. With the Minister sticking his head in the sand, I won't be able to go in officially, but I have relatives over there, so I should be able to get into the country without any problems. After all, I do have a lot to tell them, and my cousin, Hermione, is in Harry's class. That kid is going to need all the support he can get. I don't know all the details, but apparently the psycho killed one of the students right in front of him. He's going to be traumatized, at the least, and from my cousin's descriptions, his Muggle family isn't going to be any kind of help." 

"So what do you plan on doing?" 

"I'm going to knock on the front door. I'll play FBI and pretend to question him about Sirius Black. If I can avoid any conflict with the Muggles I will, but the kid's safety is more important. I'll take him to my sister's house, let him stay with Hermione, maybe get the other best friend, Ron Weasly, to visit as well. That way, I'll be able to keep an eye on him without raising any suspicions." 

Swacky nodded. "Sounds good. You have enough vacation days to leave for two months, and that should get him back to Hogwarts. Won't leave any for the wedding and honeymoon, though." 

Ruth grinned at her boss. "Don't you worry about that! We haven't even set a date yet. You'll be coming, of course?" 

The grin was easily returned. "Of course, Canon. Now get out of here! You're supposed to be off. Get the paperwork on your vacation filled out by tomorrow, then get your skinny butt to England." 

As she left the office, she said, "My butt is NOT skinny!" 

* * *

This is the end of part one. I didn't actually intend to post this in pieces, which is why the ending is so abrupt, but I haven't posted in so long, I just had to put something out. I thought the house elves were going to stage a rebellion! But it was just Peeves making noises. I'm thinking of feeding him to the jaguar. 

Feedback, please! 


	2. Two

_Disclaimer: See Part One. _

Author's note: This part begins to show the problems Harry is having, which is where those direct paraphrases come in. The wording around the quotes is changed to reflect the nightmarish nature of the images as he's flashing back, but the sequence and the quotes remain intact. 

* * *

A Matter of Magic, Part Two 

* * *

_# 4 Privett Drive..._

Harry sat on his bed, Hedwig the owl out of her cage and sitting close to her wizard to offer what support she could. He tried not to cry, but sometimes, the tears just wouldn't leave him alone. To be sure, it wasn't the fault of his family. They were actually being semi-nice to him, ignoring him for the most part, rather than pestering him and forcing him to do all the chores in the house. Though they were adamant in their dislike of magic and magical people, even they understood that it had to have been horrific to witness...what he had witnessed. It wasn't exactly compassion, but they at least left him alone. 

He tried to keep from thinking about it, but it just didn't work. No matter what he tried, he simply wasn't able to stop himself from flashing back to that horrible day. 

_He and Cedric in the Muggle graveyard, trying to figure out what had happened with the trophy. The feeling of being watched. The figure in the darkness, looking as though he were holding a baby, face hidden by his cloak. The pain in his scar, that warning he'd taken far too lightly in the past. A high, cold voice saying, "Kill the spare." A swishing noise, another voice._ Avarda Kedavra! _ A blast of green light, and even more pain, intense enough to cause him to retch. The form of his classmate on the ground, spread-eagled, his gray eyes empty, staring into eternity. Dead._

He shook his head in an attempt to dispel the horrid memory. It had been two weeks since...since that day. He was still having nightmares. He wondered idly how long he'd have them for. Surely they wouldn't last forever, even if it sometimes seemed like they would. He wished he had someone to talk to, someone who could understand all that he was going through. His godfather would understand, but there was no way Sirius Black could come to him here, and letters weren't enough. The Dursleys certainly weren't doing the job. Honestly, he thought he could use a stranger, someone who knew what it was like to be haunted by a psychotic maniac, or to face danger and death. 

A knock at the front door broke into his reverie. Who would be calling on a Wednesday? He opened the door of his room to listen as Uncle Vernon answered the front. "Yes, who is it?" 

A feminine voice answered. "Ruth Canon, FBI, United States, and Jack Connell, MI5. We need to speak to Harry Potter, please, concerning one Sirius Black." 

Vernon, of course, let the pair in, probably hoping that he'd tell her that they had caught the "dangerous criminal." Harry knew that couldn't be the case for two reasons; no Muggle authorities had a chance in hell of catching a wizard, whether he was violent or not, and Sirius was at Hogwarts just then, helping Dumbledore. 

Harry went down the stairs, stopping on the last one to look at the visitors. The American was rather pretty, having a slim face, green eyes and reddish-brown hair, and was dressed in a dark business suit with dress slacks and sensible, dull black shoes. The British agent was tall and dark, with a rather dull look on his face. The woman saw him looking at them, and in a business-like manner, she said, "Are you Harry Potter?" He nodded. "Ruth Canon. I need to speak to you in private. Can we go up to your room?" 

Something about the way her voice had sounded when she spoke to him made him want to trust her. He pointed back up the stairs and said, "Sure." Then he turned and re-climbed them, the American close behind him. Before she got out of hearing range of the Dursleys, she said, "This is to be a private conversation, Mr. Dursley. Young Mr. Potter is not in any trouble, I assure you, but confidentiality is vital in this situation. I don't want to hear you coming up these stairs." Then she turned and followed Harry to his room, leaving the British man down stairs to deal with the Dursleys. 

All of Harry's things were fairly normal looking when things were put away. His school books were all safely hidden in his trunk, along with his robes and school supplies. The only thing out of the Muggle ordinary in his room that was visible was Hedwig, safely perching in her cage, and currently asleep. Ms. Canon looked at the bird. "Lovely. A post owl, right?" Harry's eyebrows flew into his hairline. How did she know about the owl post? Seeing his face, she said, "Don't worry. I'm not who I said I was, and the man down stairs is simply an illusion. He won't even set off the alarms they put on all the students' homes." She reached inside her jacket and pulled out a thin black wallet, handing it to Harry. 

He opened the wallet. Inside was a badge and ID from the United States' Federal Bureau of Magical Affairs. She was an Auror. He looked up at her. "You said you wanted to talk to me about Sirius Black. Are you after him?" 

She shook her head. "No. Headmaster Dumbledore sent me an owl about your problem, Harry. He probably called me for several reasons, not the least of which is that Hermione is my cousin and I'd automatically be more inclined to believe you. I also don't think I'm bragging when I say that I have a very high capture rate. Now, officially I'm on vacation. I just got engaged and I'm visiting family to tell them the news. If the Ministry tries to butt in, I'll just tell them that she begged me to get you out of this house for the summer. Honestly, I'd have told her yes even without all this mess with Voldemort. I've heard plenty from her about these people." 

Harry smiled slightly at her. He couldn't convince his mouth to give a better performance than that, but it was genuine. "I'd like that." 

* * *

As Ruth blew smoke about protective custody and safe houses at the Dursleys, she went over her impressions of Harry in her mind. The kid was listless, though he seemed happy enough to be getting out of this house. He was having to deal with the trauma on his own, and that couldn't be a good thing for a kid about to turn fifteen. Even hardened military people like Jim Ellison had trouble dealing with that kind of thing alone. Of course, Jim had Blair. 

Hmm. Blair. She wondered if she would be able to get Blair to come to England while she was here. He might be able to help Harry on the psychological front. Some of the things that had happened to Blair were just as horrific, and she was sure he'd be willing to talk to the boy. 

She helped Harry to pack his things into her rental car and then to secure his snowy owl, Hedwig, in the back seat. She hated driving in Europe because of the reversal of right and left, but she could do it. As she drove herself and Harry toward London and the Granger residence, she watched her young charge. He had withdrawn into himself during the journey, not asking any questions or attempting to make conversation. She knew now that she HAD to get Blair out here. She couldn't trust a psychologist and couldn't tell them the whole story anyway, but Harry needed someone to talk to, and soon. Otherwise, Ruth was afraid that he'd wither away. She didn't see him as the sort to give up, but she also didn't think he knew how to fight the feelings of despair that were perfectly natural. 

They arrived at the quaint London residence and got out of the rental. Harry got Hedwig out of the back seat, but they left the rest of his things in the car for now. Ruth went up to the front door and knocked. A small, dark-headed woman opened the door and came out on the porch. "Ruth! I'm so glad you made it! I thought you'd get yourself killed trying to drive a British car." 

Ruth shook her head ruefully, grinning at her sister. "Sarah, you say that every time I come here, and I always survive those horrible things." She turned to Harry. "Come on, kid. We'll get you settled in." 

Harry looked around the living room. It was a fairly normal home, though a very few magical objects had managed to make their way into the decor. They were carefully hidden, and he thought that they had probably come from Arthur Weasly. But it was mostly just a normal Muggle English home. Sarah said, "Jeremy is still at work, Ruth, but he'll be able to bring your things in from the car as soon as he's back. Now Harry, I've got the upstairs guest rooms set up for you both. There's two of them, although one is really the library. I swear, that room is so full since Hermione started attending Hogwarts! She's constantly buying this history or that spell book. Some of the book stores in Diagon Ally have her on every waiting list! The room will look positively bare when she grows up and gets a place of her own." 

Harry spoke, certain that if he didn't, he'd never get a word in edgewise. "Where is Hermione?" 

"She's at the Weaslys' for dinner, dear. She intends to bring Ron back with her. I imagine you can use all the friends you have right now." Mrs. Granger bit her lip just then, probably to prevent her from mentioning the reason for that and bringing up bad memories. She changed the subject to the work of her husband, a safe subject as both of them were dentists. 

Ruth briefly debated whether or not to rescue Harry from her garrulous sister, but decided that it would be better if she could keep his mind off of things for a while. She looked at her watch. 2:30pm. That meant it was 6:30am in Cascade. Jim and Blair would be getting ready for work, and Blair was probably in the bathroom shaving. Perfect! "Sarah, I need to borrow your mirror for a moment." 

"Sure, Ruth." 

She walked to the small wall mirror in the short corridor that led to the kitchen, took out her wand and spelled the mirror. "_Telecom!_ United States, Washington State, Cascade, 852 Prospect, #307, the bathroom mirror." Then she tapped the mirror with her wand, and its reflective surface turned smoky and swirling. As the smoke cleared from the surface, it was no longer a reflection, but a window into the Blair and Jim's bathroom. Sure enough, Blair was standing there with half of his face still covered in shaving foam, his expression reading shock. Cheekily, she said, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the cutest witch of all?" 

* * *

_Cascade..._

Blair stared into the mirror. What the hell?! It had turned all smoky and swirly! What was going on here? Then the mirror resolved into an image. Ruth. Was he dreaming? Sure, he had been missing her, but surely not enough to cause hallucinations over the bathroom sink! She said, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the cutest witch of all?" 

He glared at her. "Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?" 

She just grinned. "Oh, no. I fully intend to keep you around for a very long time! You didn't answer the question." 

He smirked at her. "Oh, I don't know. I always thought Glenda from the Wizard of Oz was pretty cute." 

"Thanks a lot!" She giggled. "Hey, do you think you'll be able to come here on the weekend if I come get you?" 

"Um, sure. How would you do that?" 

"Magic." 

"Sure. What do you need?" 

She sighed. "Harry needs someone to talk to, and I know you've dealt with being hunted by psychos before. This kid is just weeks from his fifteenth birthday. The same bad guy has been trying to kill him since he was just a baby, and he killed a classmate right in front of him." 

"Shit." 

"Yeah. I don't know all the details. He won't talk to me. But I'm pretty sure he's been having nightmares and flashbacks." 

Blair thought about it. "Well, I haven't used any of my vacation time yet, and I think Simon's going to murder me if I don't get some of it used up. He doesn't like having it just sit around in the budget. I could probably stay a week." He paused, thinking about how to arrange things. "Tell you what. Can you do this with any mirror?" At her affirmative, he continued. "Call me back during lunch. It should be about eight there. I'll put a little mirror in my backpack. Make it at the half hour, and we should be in the truck. I'll see what I can do. So how's your sister?" 

She grinned. "Distracting Harry by running her mouth a mile a minute. She _does_ know how to talk. I haven't even been able to tell her about us yet." 

"Okay. Well I need to finish getting ready for work. I'll talk to you later." 

"Okay." She kissed her finger and touched it to the glass. "Bye, love." 

"Bye." The image of his fiancé disappeared from the glass to be replaced by his own reflection. He sighed. This was better than phone calls, that was for sure! 

Jim's voice came through the door. "What's going on in there, Chief?" 

Blair grinned, taking the opportunity to tease his Sentinel. "I got a call from Ruth on the mirror above the sink." 

"Huh?" 

"Yeah, like 'Mirror, mirror, on the wall...' She uses mirrors like a video phone!" 

"So what did she have to say?" 

"She asked me to join her in England. Apparently the Potter kid is pretty traumatized. He doesn't really have anyone he can talk to about it. He can't exactly go to a therapist, after all." Blair sighed. "She figures that with my experience, I can at least give the kid someone to vent at who'll understand somewhat." 

Jim nodded. "Yeah. Is he having flashbacks?" 

"Ruth thinks so, but he's clamed up." He knew the feeling. Harry didn't want to talk to anyone because in his mind, there was no one who could really understand what he was going through. He remembered his own reluctance to talk to anyone following his first encounter with the criminally insane, David Lash. "Since Simon's been after me to use up some of my vacation time, I can afford to take a week and go. What about you? How's your vacation time look?" 

Jim grinned, glad that his Guide had automatically included him in his plans. It had taken them both a long time to get over the insecurities that they had both harbored since before Alex Barnes had blown into their lives two years prior. He said, "I should have plenty enough to go with you. We'll talk to Simon before we go to lunch, get things set up and make sure our case load is clear." He chuckled. "Simon's going to freak out that you're getting married." 

Blair snorted. "Yeah, not to mention the reactions I can expect from the rest of the guys. I'll bet that by the time we get back from lunch, my desk will be decorated with paper balls and chains." 

A sudden loud tapping at the glass of the balcony window caught their attention. Jim went out and discovered a large barn owl sitting there on the balcony, a letter carried in its beak. Wondering who would have sent them a letter like this, he opened the sliding glass door to admit the bird. "Hey, Chief! We've got mail." 

"Owl post?" 

"Uh huh." The owl hopped and flapped its way to the back of one of the arm chairs, dropping its burden on the coffee table. Thinking that the animal might be hungry, he left the letter where it fell and went to the kitchen, reaching into the refrigerator for something the bird might like. There was actually some leftover turkey breast from the Police Department picnic two days ago. That might work. He addressed the owl. "Turkey all right?" It nodded, an odd gesture for an owl, but perfectly understandable. He brought the last chunk of meat back to the living room in a small bowl just as Blair emerged from the bathroom. "The letter's addressed to you, Sandburg. It's from the FBMA field office here in Cascade." He sat the bowl of meat in front of the messenger, who dug in heartily, making happy cheeping noises as it ate. 

Blair came and sat next to Jim on the sofa. He mused, "Why would they be sending me something?" and picked up the letter. It was a much less fancy affair than the one Dumbledore had sent to Ruth, just a plain white envelope and black ink, but still sealed with red wax on the back. He broke the seal and removed the letter and the three silver beads that were in the bottom of the envelope. The letter read, 

_Blair Sandburg, _

I am Eric Swacky, head of the FBMA field office for the Pacific Northwest, and consequently your fiancé's boss. She told me of your engagement, and there's a few things that need to be done, some paperwork. As I'm sure Ruth told you, Muggles are generally prohibited from knowing about the wizarding world at all, but out of necessity, spouses are an exception to this. There are also other exceptions in play since you're a cop. Your partner and your CO are also to be told so that no mistakes are made, but all three of you will need to sign nondisclosure agreements. You will all receive some literature on the basic history and physics of magic, any information that you might need to adjust to the new reality you have been thrust into. You'll all need to stop by our office at some point within the next month to fill out the paper work and receive your IDs. They will keep you from being stopped by Muggle Relations officers, otherwise known as Obliviators, who would wipe the knowledge of magic from your minds. The tokens I've included will protect you until you can find the time to get down here. If you plan on joining Canon in England, you'll need to come before you leave, so that you'll have something to show the Ministry's Obliviators, should it become necessary. 

On a personal note, I've known Ruth Canon for a lot of years. She's my best detective, and one of my best friends. I'll take it very personally if you hurt her, and I know quite a few nasty little curses that would cost me my badge if I used them. Nothing permanent, you understand, but very --ah-- uncomfortable. She's a good person. Treat her right. 

~Eric Swacky, Head of Auror Division

Blair grinned and let Jim read the letter. The Sentinel raised an eyebrow at the threat, but the sentiment was clear. Blair chuckled at Jim's reaction. "He sounds like Simon." 

The corner of Jim's mouth quirked up at that. "Yeah, he does. Well, we need to let Simon in on all this. It's not going to be easy to get him to believe all this. He has enough trouble with the Sentinel thing, and this is much bigger than all that." 

"Yeah. I guess I'll write Swacky a response. The owl is obviously waiting for it. We'll need to go down there over the weekend so that we can get those IDs before we leave. Maybe Swacky will have some idea of how to break it to Simon." 

* * *

"Ellison! Sandburg! My office!" 

Blair whispered under his breath, "It's good to know that some things in this universe are constant." 

Jim snorted. "Yeah, like you getting us into trouble." 

"Hey, I deny any responsibility for Simon's bellow!" 

They walked into the office, Blair taking one of the chairs and Jim standing instinctively at parade rest. Captain Banks turned around in his swivel chair and set a file down on the desk. He turned an appraising look on them both, steepling his fingers under his chin. He said in tones that you would use with a particularly slow child, "Do you two know what today is?" 

Blair decided to be cheeky right back. "Friday?" 

Simon glared at him. "Uh huh." He said nothing else, waiting. 

Jim shook his head. Blair just had to live dangerously sometimes. "July 7th, Sir. Let me guess. Budget's due by Monday?" 

"That's right, Ellison. I knew you were a good detective. Now, anyone want to guess what I'm missing to make my report complete?" 

Blair was trying very hard to keep a straight face, since he had the form in question in his hands. "Our vacation requests?" 

"Very good, Sandburg. The Academy must be doing their job right." He switched from sarcasm to bellow. "Now since you've figured this out, why don't you two get your butts in gear and get it done! I refuse to have my ass chewed out by the Chief because you couldn't get your forms in here on time!" 

"Of course not, Simon. That's why we have them all finished and right here, waiting for your signature." He held up the file in his hands, grinning from ear to ear. 

Simon glared at him. "You enjoyed that, didn't you." 

Blair nodded quickly. "Yep!" Jim couldn't keep from chuckling. 

Simon's glare turned on him. "All right, you clowns!" He looked inside the folder. "This next week?! Why the hell did you wait so long to put in this request?" 

"Something came up, Simon." 

"Like what, Sandburg?" 

Blair's smile changed subtly, becoming the brightest thing the captain had ever seen. "Like I proposed to Ruth Canon and she said yes. She already left for England to tell her family there, but she agreed that Jim and I needed to get the Hailey case wrapped up first. That's already on your desk, by the way." 

Simon's jaw dropped. "You're getting married?!" 

Blair laughed. "Yeah. Can't keep chasing that table leg forever. I knew that eventually someone would knock me over the head with it. Seriously, though, I love her. I've never felt like this about anyone, not even Maya." 

Simon shook his head a grin starting to emerge around his former irritation. "Who won the pool, Jim?" 

Jim grinned. "I don't know. I'll have to check with Rhonda." 

Blair rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised that you guys have been betting on this. When did you start it?" 

"Oh, about the time that Sam tried to burn your eyebrows off." The Sentinel chuckled. "The different bets were both on time and type." Blair raised an unsinged eyebrow at his partner, awaiting an explanation for that remark. "Well, if I remember right, about half bet that you'd never get married at all. Of the others, everyone bet on how long it would be before you settled down and on what type of girl she would be. They had to list hair and eye color, body type, and profession." Then he snickered. "I definitely win the profession part of the pool." At the look, he said, "Classified." 

Simon's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "What?" 

Blair nodded. "Yeah. Her boss sent me a letter, though. You and Jim are allowed to be informed of the nature of her job and some of the facts surrounding it, but this isn't the place to do it. Jim and I are going to her office after we get off. Do you want to join us? It'll be a lot easier if you're there with us so they only have to do this once." 

Simon glared at him. "I'm about to take another trip to the Sandburg Zone, aren't I?" At Blair's grin, he sighed. "All right. Next time, I expect you to give me more notice on vacation plans, Sandburg. Now get out of here, both of you! Go! Catch bad guys!" 

* * *

_Granger residence..._

Harry sat at the dinner table basically just poking at his food. Normally, he would have been digging in, as the Dursley's idea of a good, full meal for him was a sandwich, and Mrs. Granger's table was beautifully spread, but he couldn't seem to get up any enthusiasm for food. It didn't seem to matter so much with the images of Voldemort's attack floating through his mind like poisonous jelly fish, nearly invisible until the moment of attack, and as unpredictable as the currents of the sea. 

_The tiny, child-sized, snake-like thing of evil was lifted by his servant and placed in the cauldron, the captive boy once again praying for it to drown, though he now knew it would not. The pain in his scar was intense as Wormtail began the hideous spell._ "Bone of the father, unknowingly given, your will renew your son!" _The cracking of the grave's surface beneath Harry's feet and the thin stream of dust that traveled to the cauldron. The stuttering fear as Wormtail spoke the second verse of the spell._ "Flesh -- of the servant -- w-willingly given -- you will -- revive -- your master." _Watching from behind closed eyes as the servant cut off his own hand and put it into the pot. Then the sound of the injured evil right in front of him._ "Blood of the enemy...forcibly taken...you will...resurrect your foe." _The knife in his arm, just a prick. The blood in the vial, and then in the potion. And then, the thing which had haunted his existence since he was a child had stood, once again whole, once again powerful. Lord Voldemort had returned._

Harry stood abruptly from the table, the image of the flat, reptilian face of his enemy haunting his waking dreams, and the chair he'd been sitting in tumbling to the floor. Unheeding, he ran, heading up the stairs and into the room he'd been given. 

Everyone watched, astonished. Sarah's startled "Oh, my!" was the only thing said until the door slammed. All but Rose were surprised at Harry's actions. 

Hermione said, "This isn't like him. Why is he acting like this?" 

Ron nodded. "Yeah. It's like he saw a demon after him or something!" 

Still staring up the stairs after her young charge, Rose nodded. "Something like that. Only he can't run from it. It's in his memories." 

* * *

Jim, Blair and Simon walked into an unassuming building on Chancey Street and up to the front desk, where a secretary sat doing her nails, obviously bored out of her mind. It wasn't until she looked up at them that it became obvious that there was something different about her, but her eyes were a shocking amber. She said, "Can I help you, gentlemen?" 

Blair handed her the three bead tokens and said, "We're here to see Eric Swacky." 

The woman grinned. "Oh, you must be Auror Cannon's new fiancé!" 

Blair was surprised. "She told you?" 

She giggled. "No, of course not. It's all a big secret. That's why the whole building knows about it!" 

Jim an Simon laughed as Blair grinned shyly, a faint flush rising in his cheeks. Jim slapped him on the back. "Sounds just like the station." 

"Station?" The secretary's amber gaze was curious. 

Blair filled her in. "We're police officers." He cocked his head at her. "I'm guessing that you're supposed to be the person who gets those who have no business here to go away, right?" At her nod, he said, "Then you should probably wear a different color in your eyes, like blue, green or brown. The amber is a little surprising." 

She blinked. "Oh! I forgot to change them this morning!" The detectives were amazed as she blinked several more times and her eyes changed color from their natural amber to a deep chocolate that matched her hair. "That's the one thing I have the most trouble remembering to do when I'm on front desk duty. Thanks for pointing it out!" 

Blair cleared his throat to cover his surprise. "No problem." 

The secretary led them to an elevator and said, "Whenever you come here, you'll have to use this elevator. The other one is hidden by an illusion and can't be used without a wand. The Auror Division is on the fifth floor. Just hit the buttons like you would in a nonmagical elevator." Then she turned and went back to her desk. 

Blair, Jim and Simon all piled into the elevator. It was an old-fashioned kind of device, with an elegance that hadn't really been seen in elevators since the 1950s. Blair, though, could feel the difference. This was no ordinary lift, worked by electricity, pulleys and cables. He felt the same kind of energy weight within it as he had when Ruth was working those little spells at the loft. Perhaps it was because he was a Shaman? Was he sensing the magic itself? If that was so, was a Shaman just a primitive wizard, or was there some distinct difference? His anthropologist's soul was squirming with all kinds of questions, and he hoped he'd be allowed to do some research. 

They reached the fifth floor and were met by a small, strange creature. Vaguely humanoid, about thirty inches tall, he had a large, flat head that seemed too large for his body and contained a huge pair of dark brown eyes and a wrinkled countenance. That face was framed by two very large, pointed, and slightly floppy ears. The rest of him was very slender and dressed in a charcoal business suit that wouldn't have been out of place in the thirties if it were larger. The hands were small, but the fingers were extra long. Blair thought such a creature was probably a very good typist. 

The little being spoke up as it reached them. "You are Blair Sandburg?" 

Blair nodded. "Yes, and these are my partner, Jim Ellison, and my captain, Simon Banks." 

The creature bowed lightly. "Tilly is most pleased to meet you all. Auror Canon is the very best at what she does, and it is good to see her happy. Captain Swacky is ready to meet you all. Follow Tilly, sirs." 

They followed the odd little creature to the office at the back of the bullpen. Things in the room weren't that different than their own bull pen if you didn't look too close, but there were some things that were decidedly odd. This all became abundantly clear when the large potted plant next to the door stood up on roots that extended from the drainage holes in the pot and moved to stand in front of the door like a sentry. Tilly reached out and tapped one of the leaves, causing a few sparks to drift through the air as he ordered the plant to stand aside. The three Muggle cops knew their eyes were as big as saucers, but they all managed to not say anything. 

Once inside the office, the man behind the desk stood and walked around it. Shaking each of their hands in turn, he said, "Welcome, gentlemen. I imagine things are looking a little turned on their heads right about now. Don't worry about it. There is plenty of time to learn the whole thing. Right now you only need the basics. The government loves paperwork, whether it's delivered by owl or mail truck, and people are people wherever you go. As for the rest, things can get very interesting on this side of the fence." 

Simon said, "Blair tells me that an Auror is basically a cop. What kinds of cases do you handle here?" 

"Generally, we only have to deal with non-humans and part-humans. Problems like werewolves and vampires, even an occasional dragon, though there aren't a lot of them in this hemisphere. I once had to deal with a phoenix who mistakenly landed in a firestation on his dying day. It took fifteen Obliviators to clean up the mess on that one. Usually, it's not humans we have to deal with. The really petty stuff, like flying cars, is the responsibility of the Misuse of Magic Department, so we just have to deal with things like Muggle baiting." At the looks he got on that one, he said, "Oh we get our pranksters. Really silly curses get put on Muggles from time to time, like jinxing the lids on trash cans so that they'll never close, or causing washing machines to eat one sock out of every pair. Sometimes it's far more obvious, like causing people to see UFOs or ghosts that aren't real. Pretty scary stuff sometimes. The worst cases, though, are when wizards actually go bad. There have been instances throughout history in every country of dark wizards. Historically, the one you'd probably be most familiar with would be Morgan le Fey. The most recent one, of course, was Voldemort." 

Jim said, "What can you tell us about that case?" 

Swacky sighed. "Not a whole lot. His real name is Tom Riddle. When he graduated from Hogwarts in England, everyone who knew him thought he'd go into politics or something like that. He was power hungry enough. But he also had a thing against Muggle-borns, and he was extremely afraid of death. He started doing a lot of research into immortality, trying to beat death, but no one could be sure how much success he met with until just recently. Anyway, he had a lot of supporters, both from compulsion and free will. Any who were strong enough to keep him from spelling their obedience and refused to join him willingly, he destroyed. 

"When he went after James and Lilly Potter, however, something went wrong. He killed both of them and then went after their one-year-old son, Harry. For some reason, the spell he used bounced back and hit him instead. He should have died from it, but all he had done to prevent his death must have been at least partially successful." The red-headed man stood and went to his coffee maker. It didn't actually look like anything special, but it was obvious that the machine worked without the aid of electricity. There was a hazy glow coming from the plug end of the power cord, which was coiled neatly beside it. But the resultant brew was just simple coffee, so the three Muggles didn't look too askance at it. "Every year for the last four, either Voldemort himself or a servant has come after Harry at school. There's no guarantee, though, now that he's completely revived, that he won't make an attempt earlier, though he'll probably have figured out that Dumbledore is gathering as many helpers as he can on this." He snorted as he poured the coffee into an ordinary mug. "The kid probably knows more than the Ministry of Magic does about this case, and certainly more than we do here in America." 

Blair asked, "So why did this professor ask specifically for Ruth?" 

Swacky grinned at him. "Because she's the best. See, Ruth went to the Cascade Police Academy after she graduated from the Greathaven School here in Washington State. She was raised a Muggle before her talents were discovered. She sees things much differently than most wizards. She knew that she wanted to go into law enforcement, but several incidents in her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes led her to believe that if she wanted to get a good idea of how to be a detective, she'd better learn it in the Muggle world. She graduated from the CWPA with top honors, and then she came to Quantico and the Auror Academy. She understands human motivations better than any other agent in the bureau. She's had to deal with plain human darkness more than the rest of us. Anywhere in the country, if they had a bad wizard on their hands, it'd be her they'd call." 

Blair understood that. He was kind of the opposite to the PD. He was much quicker to find an alternative explanation for someone's behavior than greed or depravity than his colleagues, as well as being better able to predict group behavior based on cultural patterns. Other departments had been known to consult him on ritualistic killings, as well as artifacts and university life. His propensity for sharing knowledge, whether asked for or not, could be annoying to those not used to it (or even those who were), but you never knew when an idea might be sparked from some stray bit of esoteric information. 

Jim said, "This is going to sound like a kid's question, but where does magic come from in the first place?" 

Blair wanted to know that himself, so he listened intently when Swacky answered him. "No one's really sure, but they think it's just another force of nature, like gravity. They guess that humans have adapted to it just like those other forces, and that's where you get wizards." 

The three men continued to ask questions until Tilly, who they'd been informed was a house elf, came in to remind his boss of a meeting he had in five minutes. "Well, gentlemen, I hope I've been of some help to you. Tilly will give you the paperwork you need to fill out and show you where you can work on it undisturbed. Blair, I know that you and Ruth will be happy together. I'm glad you found each other." They all left his office and Tilly showed the three detectives into one of the work rooms that was empty. He gave them all a small stack of forms to fill out, with quill pens and wells of ink. The forms were fairly straight forward, but both Jim and Simon had to ask for duplicate forms before they got the hang of writing with the quills and not dripping ink all over the paper. Blair just grinned and kept his mouth shut. He used the pen with ease, having once taken a calligraphy class as his fine arts elective. 

Once they got the forms filled out, they got wizard photos taken for their IDs. It was a decidedly odd experience, and Blair was starting to get a headache from the intensity of the magical ambiance in the building. He was going to have to get used to that. He wondered why Jim wasn't effected, but then he guessed that it was the Shaman thing. He decided that he was going to have to do some research. He hoped that he would be able to get into a wizard library soon. The anthropologist in him was twitching. 

* * *

Once they had returned home for the day, Blair told Jim about his sensing the magic around him at the FBMA office. Jim just grinned. "Maybe it's a Sentinel thing. You know, I get the hyper senses and you get the extra senses." 

Blair glared at him. "This is serious, Jim. What am I going to do if I keep getting headaches around a lot of magic? I'm marrying a witch!" 

Jim thought about it, no longer smiling. "You'll have to find a dial of your own for it, like the ones for my senses." 

Blair sighed. "I won't be able to do that until I'm around magic again, 'cause I don't even know how I'm doing it." 

Jim sat down on the couch beside his Guide, handing him two Tylenol and a glass of water. "What does it feel like?" 

Gratefully taking the pills, he took a swig of the water, then said, "You remember Corinna Santiago?" Jim nodded. "I remember a very similar feeling when Oshun was with her. It had a different -- well, flavor, for want of a better word. And Oshun was more contained." 

"You think this is a Shaman thing, then?" 

Blair nodded. "I do, but I don't know what to do about it. I was never trained, Jim. I have no idea _how_ to be a Shaman." 

Jim thought about it for a moment, searching through his memories of Incacha. After the Chopec Shaman's death, Blair had made him sit down and remember all that he could of his time in Peru, knowing that Jim needed to remember in order to properly honor his old friend. The more he thought about it, the more he was certain that there was only one thing they could do. "You're going to have to find someone who does know." 

"Another Shaman." 

Jim nodded. "Yeah. Incacha used to tell me that he was trained from the time he was just a boy by the elder Shaman. Passing the way to you like he did was an emergency tactic, not really the best way to do it. It's probably a very good thing that the wizard world keeps itself hidden like it does, or you'd have been worse off than I was when my senses came back on-line. There probably is some connection between wizards and Shamans in the past, enough that there's still a link. You're going to have to be trained by a full Shaman, and it's not going to be easy. I don't know all the details, but since you're going to have to get all that training in such a short time, I can't imagine it's going to be a piece of cake." 

"Yeah, but Jim, where are we going to find a Shaman? Especially when we're headed for England, not Peru or the African plains." 

The Sentinel shrugged. "I don't know, Chief, but we're going to have to figure something out soon. Otherwise, you're going to be in a lot of trouble." 

* * *

_Yay! I finally got this part finished! Now my sister can quit griping at me! I have no idea when the next one will be out, but I promise to try and work faster. Feedback is always welcome! _


	3. Three

_Disclaimer: See part one. _

Author's note: I fixed my mistake in Part Two about Hermione's parents. It doesn't change the story any, as they are minor characters, but it had gone against HP canon, so I changed it. Thanks to those who pointed out my oops. 

This part has heavy spoilers for the episode "Cypher". I apologize if I'm treading over material that you TS fans already know intimately, but I'm also posting this thing on an HP archive, and they need to know a few things. For the HP fans, if you want to know more about Jim and Blair, "The Sentinel" is currently in reruns on The Scifi Channel, at least in the US, at 10AM Eastern, and the episode transcripts for the entire series are at Becky's Sentinel Site. 

* * *

A Matter of Magic, Part Three 

* * *

That night, Jim and Blair were sitting in the living room. Ruth had called from England using the mirror again to make sure that they would be ready to leave the next day. Blair had been thinking about the trust that Ruth had shown both to him and his partner with regard to her abilities. He wanted to tell her about Jim, but he wasn't sure how to broach the subject. 

Finally, while the Jags game was on commercial, Blair just decided to blurt it out. "Jim." 

"Yeah, Chief?" 

"What would you think of telling Ruth about you? About the Sentinel thing?" 

Jim looked at his partner. He could tell that Blair was nervous, probably worried about him blowing up about it. "What brought this on, Chief?" 

Grimacing, Blair replied, "Nothing 'brought it on,' Jim. I've been thinking about this a lot. She's shown a lot of trust here. You're such a big part of my life. I want to be able to share something so important to me with her." Blair looked at his Sentinel openly, trying to convey his emotions in the look. "I want that, but I won't do it without your permission, Jim. I refuse to make that mistake this time around." 

Jim nodded. "First, _you_ didn't make that mistake the _first_ time around. Naomi did. Second, you're right. Ruth should know our family secret since we know hers." 

Blair smiled up at the older man shyly. "Family?" 

Jim smiled right back. "Yeah, family. You're much more of a brother to me than Steven, and let's not even talk about my old man." 

"Thanks, Jim. I think of you as a brother, too. I mean, I never had one, but that's what you feel like to me." Blair grinned. "So, does that make Simon the dad?" 

That started Jim laughing. "I'd love to see his face if you told him that." 

"What, you think I have a death wish?" 

* * *

At noon sharp, Ruth Apparated into the living room of the loft. The magic used to perform that particular spell was much more intense than any other Blair had been exposed to, starting his headache almost immediately, but he didn't let it show on his face. Jim knew, though, since the pain had elevated his heart rate. 

Ruth said, "So, are you guys ready to go?" 

Jim nodded. "Pretty much. But before we do, there's something we need to tell you. You've let us in on your secret. Now it's time for us to tell you ours. Blair's better at explaining this thing than I am, though, so I'll let him tell it." 

Blair sat her down on the sofa and started the well rehearsed story of Jim Ellison's abilities. "Jim is what's called a Sentinel. In primitive times, most tribes had one, a warrior who's job was to protect the tribe. A Sentinel was chosen because of a genetic advantage, a sensory awareness that had developed far beyond that of normal humans. When I first met Jim, I was looking for someone who possessed all five heightened senses for my doctoral dissertation. I had found literally hundreds of cases of people with one or two heightened senses, but Jim was the real thing. 

"Now, a true Sentinel also has a heightened need to protect the tribe; without that need, I wouldn't classify them as a Sentinel. But that wouldn't stop them from having the same problems as the genuine article. A Sentinel can get so caught up in the input from one of his senses that he can become lost in it, going into a fugue state that resembles a petit mal seizure. They just zone out, and they can stay like that until something knocks them out of it. They can also have episodes of painful sensitivity, spikes that can incapacitate them for a while until they can get them back under control. 

"Those two things are why a Sentinel always had a partner in the field, someone to guard against the zone outs and the spikes and to watch their back. That's where I come in. I thought I'd be able to give Jim some control, get all the information I needed for my diss, and get out of his life, let him take a partner from inside the PD and let me get my doctorate. But it didn't work out that way." 

Now Jim spoke up. "Yeah. I got attached to Blair, and I started seeing him as my Guide, though that was a title coined by one of the bad guys. He was my partner. I didn't like that. I didn't want to be dependent on anyone for any reason because I tended to loose people close to me, either because they left or because they died. So I started trying to push him away so it wouldn't hurt so much when he finally left." He sighed. "That's about the time Alex Barnes showed up in Cascade." 

Blair spoke again. "Alex had all five senses heightened, and I thought that if I could use a different subject for my diss, then Jim wouldn't feel so threatened by it. But I made the mistake of not telling him about her and when he found out it made things worse. Also making things worse was the fact that she wasn't a true Sentinel. She had none of the protective instincts, and had in fact been using her abilities as a thief. And since I'd been helping her with her senses, I knew too much. 

"Meanwhile, Jim was extremely agitated by her presence in Cascade, though he didn't know that was what it was." 

Jim continued quietly, still ashamed of his reactions after all this time. "All I knew was I was feeling itchy, territorial. Long story short, I found out about her and that Blair had been helping her. I kicked him out of the loft, putting him out in the open right where she could get at him." 

They continued to tell Ruth about Alex, the nerve gas and Mexico, the visions and the temple. About Blair's death. Then they told her about the dissertation disaster and the offer to be a detective. Blair said, "It was so much more than I expected. I didn't believe for a second that the Chief would let me set foot in his police station again, unless it was because I was under arrest." 

"But," said Jim, "I had gotten together with Simon and gone to the Chief and explained the situation. After tearing us both a new one for keeping the whole thing from him, he accepted our proposal to let Blair do officially what he had already been doing for three years without getting paid." 

Blair smiled at his partner. "And then there's the Shaman thing." 

Ruth looked up sharply. "Shaman?" 

He nodded. "Almost three years ago, the way of the Shaman was passed to me by a Chopec Shaman named Incacha. He was Jim's first Guide. But he died, so he wasn't able to train me. Now, that hasn't really been a problem, but I've been able to sense certain things ever since. I was able to see the same vision as Jim when he came after me after Alex had drowned me. I was able to help another Shaman, a priestess of an African goddess called Oshun, channel the goddess much faster than she would have been able to do on her own. And I seem to be able to sense magic. I feel it as strongly as Jim senses light or sound, but without training, that sense has been spiking pretty badly whenever I'm around magic too much. I had a huge headache by the time we left your office the other day." He sighed. "I need training with another Shaman." 

Ruth looked worried. Blair could see the wheels working in her head. "Well, I don't really know that much about Shamanism, but I'll bet my niece does. Hermione is a sponge, I swear. She's a research bug, can't go near a library without at least a peek, and can't just peek, but has to go in and browse. Before you know it, you've lost her and then you find her six hours later neck deep in some ancient tome on the history of the goblin wars or the development of travel spells or something equally esoteric. If anyone can find out about Shamanism, it will be her." 

The two detectives looked at each other, and Jim nodded. He wasn't nearly as afraid of these wizards finding out about his abilities as he was the Muggle world. Wizards understood about keeping secrets. Blair grinned. "Okay then. We'll tell your family, but we still need to keep Jim's abilities as quiet as possible." 

Ruth agreed. "So, is Apparation going to be too much for you?" 

Blair shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm willing to risk it. It would take too long to get a flight out there. As long as everyone keeps quiet magically speaking for a while, the headache should go away." 

"That shouldn't be a problem. Hermione, Ron and Harry are all still under aged, so they can't use magic outside of Hogwarts yet. They've still got a year to go." She sighed. "Well I was going to shrink your luggage to take it with us, but we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way. Pick up the bags, make sure they're at least in contact with you." They did, making sure to leave one hand each free. They would both need to be in physical contact with Ruth for this to work. She stood between them, and they each put a hand on her shoulder. Then she took out her wand, waved it in a precise motion and said, _"Apparate!"_

The experience was one Blair wouldn't care to repeat before he had some decent training. If that caused them to be late getting back to Cascade, then so be it. The instant they Disapparated in the Grangers' foyer, a headache the size of Washington State enveloped him, presenting as one of the worst migraines he'd ever had. Instantly worried, Ruth told Jim to stay with him and went to get her sister. "Sarah! I need to get Blair into one of the downstairs guest rooms fast, and I can't use magic to do it. I'll also need some of that headache tea of yours and an ice pack." 

"What happened?" 

"He's sensitive to magic. I'll tell you more later. Apparating him in here has given him a major migraine and I need to get him settled." 

Hermione had overheard the conversation. "Why would he be sensitive to magic? He's a Muggle, isn't he?" 

"Later, Herm. He's really hurting." 

The fifteen-year-old shook her head. "Oh! Of course!" 

* * *

The tea was made of non-magical herbs, and was in fact a variant of one that Blair used himself. The ice pack was welcome, and before long the pain had reduced enough that Blair was able to go to sleep. Ruth and Jim left him alone in the guest room, going out into the family room where Sarah, Hermione and Ron all sat waiting to see what was going on. 

Ruth started. "Hermione, how much do you know about Shamanism?" 

Ron blurted out, "What does that have to do with anything?" but Hermione was already thinking over the question. 

She said, "Quiet, Ron. There's not a lot written about them, at least not in wizard publication. All that I really know is that Shamen existed long before wizards. Some historians think that wizardry evolved from Shamanism, but there's not any real proof that I know of either way." 

Jim said, "What about modern Shamen?" 

"Well, they do still exist in many pre-civilized cultures, but as for a truly modern Shaman, I've never heard of one." 

Jim groaned. "Great." 

Now her curiosity was more than just peaked. "What is it?" 

Jim looked at the girl closely. She reminded him of Blair, always ready to learn something new. But, though he didn't know why, he felt that he could trust her. Something else that she and Blair had in common. "Three years ago, a Shaman from a South American tribe called the Chopec passed the Way of the Shaman to Blair. Then he died on our living room sofa. Blair is apparently very sensitive to magic, but he was never trained in the Way, so he can't control it." 

Ruth put in, "That's why Apparation caused a migraine." 

Her mind working on overtime as always, Hermione suddenly startled. "Ron, how are your family getting here tomorrow?" For the entire Weasly family were going to be there for dinner, including Charlie, Bill and Percy. It should prove to be an interesting evening, mixing Percy's stuffiness and Fred and George's prankster habits, along with all the other people who would be there and the fact that there would be four Muggles at the table who presumably wouldn't be able to defend themselves against magical pranks. 

Ron might be slow on the uptake sometimes, but he had no trouble seeing the problem here. "I think they were planning on flying their brooms in now that Ginny is old enough. They'll just wait until the sun has set so they won't be seen." 

"Well, brooms take a lot less power than Apparation, mostly because the spell has already been cast. It just takes a little to get them into the air and to control them, not even enough to need a wand." Hermione paused for a moment. "We'll need to send them an owl before they leave. We have to warn Fred and George not to use any wand magic." 

Ron nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, no kidding. You've got four Muggles at the table, and those two will see them as easy pickings, not to mention they'll get a shot at Percy. He's been such a sod lately about Harry." 

Hermione nodded. "I think he actually believed what that Skeeter woman wrote." She sighed. "You know we won't be able to stop them from pulling something, even if they promise not to use their wands for a while. Too many tempting targets in the same room." 

Ron snorted. "Yeah. Might be worth it to see Percy get his, though." Both teenagers grinned at that. 

Hermione sobered. "I have an idea of where I might be able to get more information, but I'd need to either go to the Oxford Library of Magic or the Hogwarts School Library." 

Ruth thought about it. "Hogwarts would be more defensible." 

Jim mused, "Man, Blair would love to be able to go to either of those places." Hermione looked at him strangely, and he grinned at her. "You can take the man out of anthropology, but you can't take anthropology out of the man. He became a cop, but he uses what he learned as an anthropologist on the job, and he never gave up his love of the subject." 

Ron gave them a sour look. "Oh, great! Another bookworm in your family is all we need." Hermione glared at him, but Ruth and Jim just laughed. 

* * *

Jet lag not withstanding, by morning, Blair was feeling much better. He woke to Ruth's beautiful face watching his own and reached out to stroke her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Morning, love." 

She smiled gently, loving it when he called her that. "Morning. Feel better?" 

He nodded. "Mm-hmm. Just fine. How could I not be with this to wake up to?" 

Ruth snorted. "He says to the person who caused his headache in the first place." 

Blair shook his head. _Figures. Yet another guilt-hog in my life._ "This is none of your fault, Ruth Canon. You weren't the one in such a rush. I knew this would happen, I just didn't know how bad it would be. I have no one to blame but myself." 

"But..." 

"No. If I blamed you for the headache, I'd have to blame Incacha for not training me. I'd much rather blame the asshole who shot him and put him into that position in the first place. Fortunately, Yeager's in prison with so many charges he'll never leave unless it's to the morgue." 

"Okay." 

They emerged from the room about half an hour later and went into the kitchen for some breakfast. Jim was already in there, though he looked groggy as all hell. He glared at his partner. "You have no right being that upbeat this morning." 

Blair just grinned. "Hey, I got more sleep than you did. That's the surefire cure for jet lag." 

Breakfast was very light as was the custom in England, much to Jim's dismay. Ruth just chuckled. "Don't worry. Lunch will more than make up for it." 

Blair was finally introduced to his future in-laws and to Ron. Then he asked the inevitable question. "So, where is Harry?" 

Hermione's face clouded up. "He's still upstairs. He won't come down to eat. I just don't know what to do with him! I'm worried." 

Jim looked at Blair, who nodded and said, "Why don't I bring him up a plate then? Maybe he won't feel so overwhelmed." Blair knew that Jim understood that he expected him to listen in, just in case he was needed. 

* * *

The knock was soft, but Harry was wide awake. He hadn't been able to sleep the whole night, knowing that the nightmares awaited his return to the world of dreams. He also knew that they weren't that patient. They had already sought him out awake once, and there was nothing stopping them from doing it again. 

The knock came again. Harry sighed and rolled off the bed, hoping just to make Hermione go away as he opened the door. But it was a stranger. "Hi. I'm Blair. I didn't figure you wanted to deal with everyone this morning, so I just brought you some breakfast up here." 

Indeed, the curly-haired American had a plate in his hand with a couple of eggs and some toast on it, and a glass of juice in the other hand. Not really hungry, but not wanting to be rude in the face of such thoughtfulness, Harry said, "Thanks," and took the proffered items. 

Blair said, "You mind if I come in? I'm not really used to this magic stuff yet, and I heard you were in the same boat once." 

Harry shrugged. "Sure." Why not? "You're a Muggle?" 

Blair nodded. "Yeah, a cop. Completely different world, that's for sure." 

Harry agreed, remembering his first glimpses into the wizarding world almost five years ago. "Yeah. It's so much better than the Muggle world, mostly, anyway." 

"Uh huh. Haven't seen much crime in it, either. Not like with my world. Even before I was a cop, when I was still just an observer, I was held hostage more times than I care to count, shot, drugged, kidnapped, and drowned. Once, I was almost the next victim of a serial killer. David Lash. Man, was he a nutcase! He'd follow a person for a while, then kill them and take over their identity. And he was a good actor. He fooled a whole police station full of cops into thinking he was his own psychiatrist. He took me out of the apartment I share with my police partner, Jim. He wanted me because he thought I was a cool person, someone he'd like to be for a while. He brought me to this warehouse where he was planning on sedating me, just enough so I couldn't struggle, then drowning me in the nearby duck pond. Jim got there just barely in time. Of course, that didn't bring back the ones he had already killed." 

Harry just looked at him. "Why are you telling me this?" 

Blair shrugged. "It's just that I know it's hard. I've seen people get killed, people I knew, even cared about, and perfect strangers. That's something you know something about, isn't it." 

_He knows. He knows what it's like to face a madman who wants to kill you just for being who you are. He knows what it's like to walk out of that alive._ Hesitantly, Harry said, "H-How did you deal with that? Knowing this person wanted you dead just because of who you were?" 

"Time, nightmares, tears and friendship, and not being afraid to talk about it with someone who understood where things were in my head. My partner, Jim, is also my roommate. He'd come downstairs if I was in the middle of a nightmare and wake me up, let me cry on his shoulder. He let me rant when the anger came out, but he wouldn't let me take it too far. He took me to the gym a few times to take it out on the heavy bag." 

Harry sat down on the side of his bed, absently stroking the feathers of the gorgeous snowy owl that stood on a stand in the corner. "It's not going to just go away, is it." 

Blair remained silent, knowing that Harry had just been waiting for an excuse to talk to someone. He had just needed someone who knew what it was like, who would understand, at least a little, what he had gone through. The story came out in patches, the whole school year passing through the room as the food got cold and the walls around Harry's soul crumbled to dust. It was hardest as he got to the end, to Cedric's death and his own bare escape. And worst, of course, was that the demon who had haunted his life was now fully alive again. He would be coming, and Harry couldn't relax, afraid that the moment he did, one of his friends would become Voldemort's next victim. The unending struggle to stay alive and sane was beginning to wear on the young man, and Blair could only admire him for holding up as well as he had. 

Harry said, "So why? Why do I always survive?" 

Blair shook his head. _Guilt. I should have expected that._ "I don't know, Harry. Who knows why anything happens, or doesn't happen. But as long as you survive, just remember that it's up to you to be the best person you can be. Not the best student or the best wizard, the best person. That's the best way to honor those who didn't make it." 

Harry thought about it, then nodded. He looked closely at the man before him, something tickling the edge of his consciousness, a feeling. "You sure you're a Muggle? There's something about you, something magic." 

Blair's eyebrow rose. "You can sense that?" 

Harry shrugged. "Sometimes. Especially if I'm not in a magic place. Wizards stand out far more in Muggle surroundings, since the backdrop isn't nearly so strong." 

"I bet if you concentrate on that feeling, you'll sense that it's not quite the same feel as wizard magic. I'm a Shaman. Untrained, but a Shaman none the less." 

Concentrating, Harry was astonished to find that Blair was entirely correct. What the American was exuding wasn't wizard magic at all! It seemed somehow brighter than that. "You feel like a ghost, only about a hundred times stronger." 

Blair grinned. "Ghosts, huh? I can see that we're going to have a lot to talk about." 

* * *

Blair was able to convince Harry that staying in his room wasn't going to help him deal with his demons. Ron and Hermione got him into the puzzle of finding Blair a trainer, trying to give him something to occupy his mind. It worked, at least for a while, and they were able to find a couple of things, just in the school books they had. The last known incident that had Shamen and wizards interacting was in ancient Egypt during the reign of Ramses II. The Shaman had been none other than Aaron, brother of Moses. One of the schoolbooks showed a hieratic tablet that recounted that incident in a little more detail than the Book of Exodus. There had been no less than twenty wizards standing against Moses and Aaron, but the Hebrew men had still won. No one had really been able to figure out why the Egyptians had fared so badly, not just in that encounter, but also in the plagues to follow. All of Egypt had suffered because of the Pharaoh's stubbornness, but everyone agreed that even for someone as obviously powerful as Aaron had proved to be, one man couldn't have been responsible for the devastation. Speculation had been rampant that Aaron had been supported by a bunch of other Shamen, hidden from the court, but Blair didn't think so. That didn't sound right. But he didn't have another theory to offer, not yet anyway. 

The Weasly family arrived at sunset, when they could hide in the long shadows. Arthur and Molly rode in on an ancient Tandem Broom For Two, a broom that they'd gotten as a wedding present that held them both. They thought the thing was romantic. Fred, George, and Ginny were on Shooting Stars, older model Quiditch brooms. Charlie had a fireproof Dragoncatcher Model 5, which had a built-in Flame Freezing Charm imbedded in it, and Bill was on a simple Commuter. He didn't have much need for a fancy broom, so he'd bought the cheapest one he could find. Percy was on a company broom, requisitioned from the Ministry broom pool. 

Introductions out of the way, Sarah and Molly got together in the kitchen, Molly interested in nonmagical cooking techniques, despite the fact that she always railed on her husband's fascination with the way Muggles did things. Both women had to chase almost every man out of the kitchen at least once, especially Fred and George, who kept trying to sneak spoons into the soup pot. They never got the soup into their mouths, of course. Molly was too used to their ways, and she was lightening fast with a wooden spoon. Both boys left the kitchen with red knuckles. 

Blair and Hermione had to be torn away from their research to eat, which those who knew them best could only chuckle at. Two heads of long reddish-brown curls whirled around the giant stacks of books instead of just one, and instead of unconscious muttering, the study was filled with lively conversation that no one else could follow. Jim grinned at the sight, glad his friend had found someone to talk research with. Ever since he'd given up his career to protect Jim, academia had abandoned him. Blair had assured Jim that he didn't regret it, but he could tell the younger man was happy as a clam to have found someone with the same yen for knowledge who would actually talk with him and not care one whit about the press conference. 

Dinner conversation was all over the place. Ginny seemed to have developed a crush on Jim, and Blair was hard pressed not to laugh as he tried to deflect her attentions. Fred and George had to know all about being Muggle Aurors. Fred's first question was how many times either of them had been shot and George's was if they had ever thrown up at a crime scene. Charlie got started talking about the North American Thunderbird, which was actually a feathered dragon. Bill and Percy got into an argument over procedure, and Molly threatened to lock them both in a black hole. 

When talk turned inevitably to the situation at hand, the return of Voldemort, the arguments got started. Percy followed the party line of the Ministry, that Harry was mentally unstable and that he was wrong about Voldemort being back. He managed to alienate the Americans at the table immediately with his insensitive attitude toward Harry. Jim said, "If anyone had ever said something like that in front of a murder witness in one of my cases, I'd have a restraining order put on them, and if they ever came near that witness again, I'd arrest them. Harry's not my witness and this isn't my case, but if you ever say something like that in front of him again, you'll regret it." The look Jim was aiming at the third Weasly son had scared far stronger men, hardened criminals that would kill their own mothers for the right price. Percy shut up. 

Attempting to lighten the mood, Sarah chose that moment to bring in the soup, hoping to engage mouths with something other than words. However, within moments of tucking in, first Blair and then everyone else started to feel funny. Remembering that the twins had been messing with the pot, Molly cornered them with a glare. "What did you two do!?" 

The mischievous pair looked at each other and grinned. Soon it became very apparent that they had added something to the soup on those spoons they had been sticking into it during the cooking. In a transformation resembling that of an Animagus, every person at the table changed into some form of animal, something that resembled their personality. Unsurprisingly, at least to the two of them, Jim became a large black jaguar and Blair became a silver wolf. Ruth was a big red pit bull, which would not have surprised Captain Eric Swackey in the slightest. The biggest one was Charlie, who had turned into a small Mediterranean cave dragon. Thankfully, the dining room had a huge vaulted ceiling, so he didn't either hit his head or destroy the room, though he did topple the table. Harry and Hermione were a falcon and an owl, while Ron had become a red fox. Ginny was a spectacular little ocelot. Fred and George were still twins, chipmunks, while Bill was a gray squirrel and Percy was a weasel. Arthur had become a raccoon and Molly a banty hen. Sarah was a chatty cockatiel and Jeremy a big white German shepherd, a gentle giant. Everyone's minds were intact, though their instincts had changed to match their bodies. 

Knowing exactly who was responsible for this predicament, if not how they had done it, the hen that was Molly Weasly flew after her chipmunk sons angrily, pecking at their heads when she got close enough. Ginny had stationed herself at the kitchen door to prevent their escape in that direction, while Harry, Hermione and Sarah rested on Charlie's neck ridges. Jim found that his senses had not increased in strength or clarity with his assumption of the form of his animal spirit, only his physical strength and balance. Blair and Ruth had lain down together, just watching the commotion with a great deal of amusement. 

The situation escalated when, wakened by the noise of the hen and the cockatiel, Crookshanks, Hermione's ginger tom cat, came into the room to satisfy his curiosity. He didn't know what to make of all the animals in his living room, but he spotted the squirrel. He had been known to hunt squirrels, and seeing this one in such tight quarters, he couldn't resist stalking the beast. 

Jim saw the smaller feline as he got ready to pounce on Bill. Keeping his claws retracted so he wouldn't hurt the animal, he swatted Crookshanks mid-leap, throwing him out of Bill's path to Charlie, who quickly picked him up to prevent a repeat attack. Jim ignored the cat after that. 

Just five minutes later the strange feeling that had originally coursed through all of them was back. Guessing that this would herald either a return to their normal form or something worse, the four birds and the squirrel all headed for the floor and the raccoon got off the table. Everyone was ready when they either grew or shrank back into their human bodies, thankfully with clothes intact. 

Molly was on her sons instantly, almost as if she had never left off from her previously-poultry self. "WHAT DID YOU PUT IN THAT SOUP!?" 

Cringing, George said, "_Gramenicae feracorpus_." 

Hermione said, "Beast weed? But how did you do it without anyone seeing you? Those things are huge!" 

Fred answered her. "We dried the leaves, made a tea with them, and then dehydrated the tea to give us a powder. We've got a new confectionary idea, putting the powder into chocolate. We wanted to make sure that the powdering process didn't harm the effectiveness first, though." 

Still mad enough to be shooting daggers out of her mouth, Molly shouted, "And of course you had to do it when it would be the most annoying! You two are going to be grounded for the rest of your lives if you keep this up!" 

A thoughtful look on his face, Blair stepped into the conversation. "This beast weed, it's an herb?" Fred nodded. "Do you think you can perfect that formula, make it last longer, act faster?" 

The Shaman certainly had everyone's attention. Fred and George looked at each other, making calculations in their heads. George said, "Probably. The powder was diluted in the soup, so it didn't last very long. It will always act in the same way, causing a person to become the animal which most closely resembles their personality, but duration can be extended by concentration." 

Blair nodded. "That's good. I'd like you guys to do that. Go ahead and make your candy." A chorus of "Why?" rose around him. "Think about it. If we can make that effect last for say half an hour, depending on how fast acting it is, even those of us without magic to help them would have a defense against certain dark wizards. Sarah and Jeremy could escape much more easily, and Jim and I would be a very nasty surprise." 

Both Jim and Ruth grinned. Jim chuckled. "I like it." He really liked the idea of fighting as a jaguar. He knew just how much like the big cat he really was, and this was just an extension of that. "It didn't affect your sensing magic?" 

"No, I felt it, but it was closer to what I feel from the spirit world." 

Harry said thoughtfully, "I know what you mean. I can sometimes feel a -presence- from certain magical things. Herbs, ghosts and magical creatures all have a different feeling than wand magic. The feeling I get from you is the strongest I've ever had." 

Percy had been sulking during the entire conversation. Finally he just couldn't keep his mouth shut. "This is ridiculous! You-Know-Who is NOT coming back! He's probably dead. Whatever happened during the Triwizard Tournament has just caused Harry to topple over the edge of sanity. I think the Minister should take his wand before he hurts himself or someone else!" 

Harry just sighed. Ruth was ready to deck Percy. Hermione and the rest of the Weasly family looked ready to hold him down for her. But it was Blair who acted most quickly, and his methods were much more effective. His voice was cold, and full of warning as he said, "So you, who weren't there, know more about the situation than the one who was? How do you know? Did you use some kind of magic to spy on Harry and the other contestants? If you did, why didn't you tell everyone the truth, keep such lies from being spread?" 

Percy sputtered. "Well of course I didn't see it, but..." 

"But it makes more sense to ignore a potential threat because you don't want it to exist than it does to prepare for the worst just in case everyone who thinks Harry's lost his mind is wrong, is that it? And just how do you explain away the body, Percy? Are you going to try and pin it on Harry? Want to call the Ministry and say you've caught Cedric Diggory's killer? You can't deny the boy is dead, and the cause of death was obvious from what Ruth's told me about that particular curse. Any Auror worth their salt could tell if someone had died from it. _Someone_ murdered him. Are you actually going to accuse Harry of what would be 1st degree murder back in the States?" 

Cringing, Percy said, "Of course not. That would be absurd. It's not that I think Harry did it." 

"Then who did?" Silence. "That's right. A man once said, 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'" 

Stubborn, Percy said, "Well, what if someone else _was_ there? Why does it have to have been You-Know-Who?" 

"Inventing enemies now? Who else would have had any reason to kill Cedric? Not that Voldemort needed a reason." Percy flinched at the mention of the evil wizard's name. "Gods. The power you let him hold over you, and he doesn't even have to try." 

Sour, and trying to change the subject, he said, "What would you know about it, Muggle?" 

Blair shook his head. "I'm a cop. I deal with murder on a regular basis. Murder's murder, one human being planning and executing the death of another. The rest is methodology." 

Percy just shrugged. "Fine. You lot can do what you want. I'll have no part in it." He took out his wand and, before Blair could even brace himself, shouted, _"Apparate!"_

As Percy disappeared, Blair grabbed his skull, groaning in pain, and collapsed to his knees. Jim, remembering how Blair would talk him through a sensory spike, started speaking in a low voice. "Where's it coming from, Chief? Find the source of the feeling. Take a deep breath and find what it is that lets you feel the magic. Don't forget to breath. Do you have it?" Blair took several deep breaths, still holding his head in pain, but he nodded. "Good. Now picture a dial, Blair, just like the ones you taught me to use. Now, take that dial and turn it down until it doesn't hurt anymore, number by number." 

Minutes passed, the wizards all leaving the room to give the partners space to work. Blair tried, but he just couldn't find a way to lower his sensitivity. Soon the pain passed, but it was not through any effort on his part, merely the passage of time. Once he could sit up without worrying about vomiting, Blair said, "It's not going to work, Jim. We've got to find a Shaman." Jim nodded, agreeing whole-heartedly. "I have a feeling we're going to need every advantage we can get. That's why I asked the twins to perfect their formula. This guy isn't going to waste much time. He has his power back, so he won't see much reason to wait. We have to use that confidence against him." 

Harry, who was close enough to listen, could only agree. There was a hint of pain in his scar, not the intense pain that would have indicated Voldemort was actively thinking about him, but just enough to be a warning. He was planning, making ready. It wouldn't be long, and they were going to need every weapon they could get their hands on. If one of those weapons was the more ancient magic of a Shaman, then they needed to get that Shaman trained as soon as possible. He turned from the doorway to Hermione. "Can I help you with your research?" 

An eyebrow flew into her hairline. "_You_ want to do research?" 

Harry smiled a little, but it didn't last. "Yes. We need to find a teacher for Blair." Ruth turned her head to listen to their conversation. Harry ran a finger over his scar. "I think we're going to need him." 

* * *

_I hope you enjoyed this. Don't worry, Percy's not the bad guy. He's just a jerk. Things are weird at home, what with school, work, my cousin's kids and my BF, so things are going slow with my stories. I don't have a clue when the next one will be out. As always, feedback is most welcome._


	4. Four

_Disclaimer: See Part One. _

Author's note: I'm very sorry about the amount of time I've been taking on my stories. My RL has been flip-flopping all over the place. It's very frustrating! 

I've taken some more quotes and paraphrases, this time from all of the first four books. I'm torturing Harry again. 

As always, feedback is very welcome. 

* * *

A Matter of Magic, Part Four 

* * *

They decided to split up, with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Molly and Arthur going to Hogwarts in order to research Shamanism, and Fred, George, Ruth, Jim and Blair staying at the Grangers' house to work on the Beastly Bonbons, which was what the twins had named their candy. Bill and Charlie volunteered to make a supply run to every herbalist they could find down Diagon Alley for more beast weed. The Doctors Granger had to go into the office. 

Blair paid close attention as the boys boiled their remaining supply of the magical herb. The powder that they had used before had been like instant tea crystals. They had discussed it, and they thought that making it into a syrup would actually concentrate it much better, as well as fitting into the candy-making process more easily. He got a low-grade feeling from the leaves before they were boiled, but the moment they hit the bubbling water, that feeling intensified. It didn't cause him pain, but it was fascinating, even mesmerizing. 

Two minutes later, Jim ran into the room to the sounds of the twins shouting at Blair to wake up. He was staring at the bubbling pot of herbs as if it were the most intriguing thing in the world. Remembering a similar incident during the Switchman case when he had zoned out on a boiling cook pot, Jim put his hand on his Guide's shoulder. "Blair, you can come back now. Whatever you're sensing must be pretty interesting, but I need you here with me." 

Luckily, Blair hadn't zoned too deeply. He came out of it and looked up, surprised to find Jim crouched behind him. "Uh, Jim, what's going on?" 

Relief that Blair was all right flooded him, causing him to crack wise about the situation. "You got a little too fascinated by the pretty bubbles." 

The untrained Shaman blushed. Great! Now he had zoneouts, just like Jim. "I guess there's no chance that you won't be telling Ruth about this?" Jim just grinned evilly. "Didn't think so." He sighed, turning serious. "Well, I managed to help you to control your senses. I guess I'll just have to learn to control mine. That has to be part of the training, right?" 

Jim nodded. "I would imagine." 

Fred and George looked at each other and nodded. Had either man noticed it, they would have been worried, but Jim was too focused on Blair and Blair was still too weirded out to notice. 

* * *

Hermione studied the book in front of her intensely. _Prehistoric Magic,_ by Recorda Geschichte, was a very thick book, but so much of it was so very vague. There was a huge stack beside her of books that mentioned Shamanism, but finding even two that agreed on the subject would have been quite a feat. Still, there was one reference in this particular tome that intrigued her. "Harry, Ron, look at this. It says here that a new Shaman can only be trained by another Shaman, but the older one doesn't have to be from the same tribe, or even still among the living." 

Harry frowned. "A ghost? Would that work?" 

"Why not?" Ron shrugged. "We have a ghost for a History professor." Indeed, Professor Binns had taught at Hogwarts for over a century since his death. 

She shook her head. "No, not quite. It says here that with the incident in question, the Shaman didn't feel up to the task of training his new pupil, so he called the spirit of an ancient and powerful Shaman to do so for him. He wasn't already hanging around on this side if he had to be called. Most likely, they called him back, then made him corporeal for a short time so that he could train the young one." 

Harry looked up, interested. "How did they do that?" 

She sighed. "I don't know. I can't find anything like that anywhere, and I've been looking for three hours. I think it's time for a break." She leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head, trying to work out the kinks in her back. She didn't notice when Ron's eyes tried to bug out of their sockets, but Harry did and grinned. He had speculated for over a year that those two were going to end up together, and he took this as further evidence that he was right. 

* * *

The twins' concoction had to be strained, then reduced until it started to turn to sludge. Ruth decided that it was time to get Blair out of there. They had worked out that it was the herbal magic emanating from the boiling leaves that had caused him to zone, and it would only get stronger as the stuff thickened. They would then add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa powder, cook it until it was a thick syrup, and pour it into candy moulds, which were already a part of their standard prank-making kit. The mixture would, by that point, be rendered dormant by the inactive ingredients and Blair would be able to be around it again without zoning or getting a headache, but until then, they decided that he needed to leave the house. 

Ruth said, "I guess I could take you to the Oxford Library of Magic and let you get some research of your own done." 

"You don't think the magic atmosphere there will be too much?" 

"No. They have to be really careful there because it's actually attached to the main campus. Muggles might be unobservant sometimes, but having magic going on over their heads would cause problems." 

Blair nodded. "Okay, sounds good." 

Jim was appointed to keep an eye on the twins. After the pranks of last night, he'd had a long discussion with Molly, needing to know what to expect. The harried woman had given him quite an earful about her trickster sons and had warned him that they would hardly be able to resist putting practical jokes on the Muggles of the house. They had to see what they could get away with. 

Once they had poured the candy into its moulds and it wasn't in danger of burning, Fred and George had nothing to do but wait. Once the cinnamon-chocolate caramels had cooled completely, they would be covered in milk chocolate or dark chocolate, but that wasn't going to happen for some time. Idle hands make for mischief, and those two needed no such excuse. 

Since there were going to be so many wizards in the same house, they had called for a suspension of the magic alarm system that was in place on all student wizards homes until they reached the age of seventeen. They didn't have to worry about accidentally getting Hermione into trouble, and they didn't have to worry about causing Blair pain. They were alone in the house with a Muggle, but one who was obviously more skilled in some areas than ordinary Muggles. It was a challenge, and one they could hardly pass up. 

They had a private discussion about what they should attempt. Jim heard the whole thing, of course, so he was ready when they came back down the stairs. They feinted at going into the kitchen for a bite to eat and to check on the candy, but then they turned simultaneously, drawing their wands as they turned. Before a single word of the spell could be uttered, Jim snatched the wands out of their hands. He grinned at them. "Consider this a lesson in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Never draw your weapon so close to your enemy that they can take it from you. I'll be keeping these. And don't think I won't be telling your mother about this." 

The twins blanched. Fred said, "No, please!" 

George joined him. "Anything but that!" 

Jim pretended to consider it. "Why shouldn't I?" 

Fred wheedled, "Come on, we waited 'till Blair wasn't going to get hurt." 

"What were you going to do?" 

George had the grace to blush as he answered. "Ah, we kind of overheard that conversation you had with him about your senses being, well, sensitive, and we were going to put an itching spell on you." 

Feeling his skin twitch at the mere thought of such a thing, Jim's face hardened. "You have no idea what that would have done to me. Next time, you'd better get the whole story before you try to pull something like this. I won't tell your mother about this, but I will tell Ruth. I get the feeling she's handled much worse than you with no problems." 

Fred shook his head. "No offence to Blair's girl, but no one can match our Mum on scaring the stuffing out of us." 

George finished for him. "She knows how to use that rolling pin of hers for more than just dough." 

Jim smirked. "And of course, you didn't deserve a bit of it did you?" They blushed. "That's what I thought. Consider your wands confiscated. And if you try one more thing on me like that, I'll still tell your mother." 

"All right! We'll behave!" 

"Good." Jim waited until he was in another room to start laughing, but they heard him anyway. 

* * *

Blair was in a researcher's heaven the moment he walked through the spelled doors of the Oxford Library of Magic. He went to the front desk and explained the rudiments of his situation, that he was an anthropologist who was marrying a witch. None of it was a lie. He had gotten his Masters in anthro, and he was marrying a witch. He just didn't mention that they were both cops. He didn't think that it would have gone over very well. 

The girl understood his curiosity and took him to the sections on ancient magic and peoples. She explained the filing system, which wasn't so dissimilar to the Muggle section of the Oxford Library that he had any trouble with it, and then left him to his research. 

He found more questions than answers. He knew that Shamen were rare these days, found only in precivilized cultures or assimilated ones that weren't as assimilated as people wanted to believe, like several of the North American tribes. He also knew that wizards didn't appear in any histories before Biblical Egypt, which was the eighteenth dynasty, Ramses II. Those early wizards, however, hadn't been able to stand up against the power of a Shaman, and no one knew why. The Ramses Tablet, which was a more detailed account of the Book of Exodus from the Egyptians' point of view, said that Aaron had defeated the court magicians, but none could account for just how the plagues had occurred. No one actually credited Aaron with those things. Many speculated that there had been several other Shamen hidden among the Israelites that could have combined their power to create the plagues, but there were too many ambiguities for that story to sit well with him. 

There was very little on the Shamen themselves in the books, but he did find one very interesting spell. It didn't look like it had to be done with a wand, either. It was Shamanic magic, not wizard magic, though a wizard could do it if they wanted to. It was a spell to call the dead back from the spirit plane to talk with them. It was hardly permanent, but it would hold the spirit for three days on the physical plane. He suddenly knew where to get his teacher. 

* * *

Harry banged his head against the table. "We're never going to find anything!" 

"We found the Living Spirit charm, didn't we?" The charm caused any spirit or ghost within thirty yards of the caster to become corporeal. Hermione slipped a folded up kerchief under Harry's forehead so he wouldn't get a bruise. 

"Yeah, but what good does that do us if we can't find him a teacher in the first place?" 

Ron broke in. "Hey, at least we found somethin'. This is different than all the other 'little projects' we've ever got our selves into, isn't it? None of _us_ is in mortal danger from it." 

"Maybe, but if Blair doesn't get his abilities under control, he's going to have a real problem marrying my aunt. Even if she didn't use magic around him, she'd be bringing it home with her from work. Magic tends to stick to things, which is why you can't use electrical things anywhere near Hogwarts." 

Molly walked back into the library just then and approached the researching trio. "I think you three have been at this long enough for today. Come on. We'll need to hurry to catch the evening train." 

Hermione checked out the books she needed, then they all left the library and the castle and headed for Hogsmede on their brooms. She continued to read on the train until she was certain she could perform the spell in her sleep. She started working the magic in her head, trying to figure out how to use it without causing a negative reaction in Blair. She decided that she needed to place the charm on an object, preferably something that would not interfere with Shamanic magic. As she continued to read, exhaustion overcame her and she fell asleep over her books. 

* * *

It was dinner time before everyone had returned to the Grangers' house. Bill and Charlie had bought out every apothecary in Diagon Alley, and there were piles of the bright green leaves all over the kitchen. Blair and Hermione had taken over the library again, combining their separate research. Blair could sense a paper coming on, but he knew he would have to wait for a while before he could write it. Fred and George were just finishing off the Bonbons by drizzling melted dark chocolate over the finished caramels. 

As the boys finished their work and set the candies aside to harden and cool, their mother noticed that their wand holsters, which were nestled at the small of their backs, were empty. "Fred, George, where are your wands?" 

Both boys straightened like they had been kicked, their eyes widening in fear. "Ah..." The boys looked at each other and made an instant decision for self preservation. "We forgot something very important upstairs. Must go quickly!" And they were out of the room in a flash. 

Molly shouted, "What did you two do!?" 

Jim chuckled as the twins made their escape. "They didn't actually do anything. I was paying too close attention and they underestimated me. They were too close when they pulled their wands and I grabbed them before they could get a shot off. I believe they mentioned something about an itching spell, though." Molly looked ready to explode, but Jim just grinned. "Don't worry about it." He handed the wands over to her after pulling them out of the drawer he had stashed them in. "If they've learned a lesson about underestimating the target, then it was worth it." 

Molly sighed as she accepted the wands. "I guess so. But still." 

* * *

Dinner went by without any of the problems they'd had the night before. Harry seemed more animated, which pleased everyone, and the twins were behaving for once in their lives thanks to Jim sitting right across the table from them. 

Once dinner was done, everyone in the house settled into the study to go over what they'd learned that day. Hermione went first. "We couldn't find all that much on Shamanism, and what we did find was very conflicting. However, there were a few reliable sources. A Shaman _must_ be trained by another Shaman, but they don't have to be from the same tribe or even still living. There were instances when an experienced Shaman didn't feel up to the task of training a young one, so they would call up the spirits of past Shamans to do it for them. We couldn't find any way to do that. We found a charm to make any spirit within a certain area become corporeal, but nothing on actually getting them to this plane." 

Blair grinned. "Perfect! I ended up going to the Oxford Library with Ruth. We found an old spell, wandless, that will last for three days. It was a common practice to speak to the Ancients for advice. Some cultures took it even further and worshiped those ancestors, like the Chinese. Anyway, the ritual calls to a certain spirit. You have to either have been introduced to them as a spirit or have known them in life, or you'd get all kinds of things coming to say 'hi,' and quite a few of them are creatures you wouldn't want to meet. But as long as you know them, you can call them specifically. That combined with your spell..." 

Hermione returned his grin. "Right! You'd only have three days, but hopefully that would be enough to at least give you a background. Then you could work things out on your own. Now there's a few things we'll have to work out. The Living Spirit charm is a wizard spell. It can't be done without a wand. But I could charm an object of some kind, and then set the charm to be activated at will. That way, I could do the spell in a different place, and then..." 

Harry broke in. "Hermione, we can't use our wands outside of school, remember? We're still under age. I don't plan on getting into trouble for that again! I thought for sure fudge was going to have me expelled before third year for blowing up my Aunt Marge." At Blair and Jim's looks, he clarified. "Like a balloon, not like a bomb. And it was an accident. They started insulting my parents, and I just lost it." 

Fred and George started snickering. "Good job, Harry!" "Yeah, I'd love to have seen it!" Jim glared at them and they quieted down, remembering their own mess of trouble with their wands. 

Ruth said, "So I'll charm the object for you." She looked up at the clock. "Well, I think it's time for bed, everyone. We can work on this more in the morning." Everyone agreed, and soon all were in their beds. 

* * *

Harry lay on his bed, dreading the nightmares he knew were coming for him in the dark. Reliving Cedric's death was only part of it. Sometimes it would be straight nightmares, horrifying amalgamations of things he'd actually seen and his worst fears. Sometimes it was his mother's death, made more real by additions from his imagination. And once, since school had let out, he had once again seen what Voldemort was doing first hand through the scar the dark wizard had left him. 

But finally, exhaustion overcame him, and he fell asleep. 

The dream took a more formless shape than usual at first. Incidents from his entire life popped into it. The green light of _Avada Kedavra_...the screams of his mother...Dudley beating the crap out of him when he was five and Aunt Petunia just smiling as she watched..."and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got stuck with you!"..."but your mother needn't have died...she was trying to protect you"...a long, poisonous fang sinking deeper and deeper into his arm, then splintering as the basilisk keeled over sideways and fell, twitching, to the floor...the ice cold grip of a Dementor's gaze, and again the green light and the screams of his mother...the Goblet of Fire spitting his name out...the Triwizard cup..."Kill the spare."..."Blood of the enemy...forcibly taken...you will...resurrect your foe."...Moody, or rather, Barty Crouch... 

And then the bad dream was interrupted by Harry's true nightmare, his visions. 

* * *

Jim woke to the sound of someone shouting. It was Harry, and from the sounds of it, he was in the middle of a nightmare. Jim got out of bed and padded up the stairs till he reached Harry's room, then went inside, looking closely at the boy on the bed. 

He frowned. The lightning-shaped scar had been explained to him, but he'd never heard any reason for it to be glowing. Something was wrong here. He crouched down beside the thrashing boy's bed and put a hand to his forehead, checking for fever. 

Suddenly the world flashed around him and he was pulled into the vision that was being poured unknowingly into Harry's mind. 

* * *

Voldemort sat in a large, comfortable chair, a goblet of red wine in one hand and Nagini draped and twined around the other arm, her slender, but enormous, form elevated to look her master in the eye. She hissed quietly at him. _"How may I serve you tonight, Lord?"_

He replied in the same language, Parceltongue. _"Our dear Mr. Potter has found himself a Shaman, Nagini. This would normally be a very bad thing. Shamen are among the most powerful creatures on this planet. No one's really sure why, either. But this one, this American, has had no training! He's still malleable, if we can take him." _

"How did we receive this information, Master?" 

A small smile crossed the reptilian face. _"The fools removed him from the Muggles' house. All the wards Dumbledore placed on him were made null and void when he was taken out of there by a government official. It didn't matter that she was not an official from our government. Once she fooled them into believing that it was an official removal, the spells lost all effect." _

"So when will we kill him, Master?" 

"Ah, patience, my pet. We must still be cautious. The Shaman may be untrained, but he is not without skill. He is quite intelligent, and he can do some things just from what he has gleaned from Muggle academia. He was a student of man before he joined the Muggle law enforcement in America, and he has seen trained Shamen, knows their ways. He will make an excellent addition to my army if I can take him, and then I could take Potter without any trouble. With a corrupted Shaman at my side, fully under my control, I could make the entire world mine in less than five years." 

"How will you corrupt him? May I help you?" 

Voldemort smiled again. _"Of course, Nagini. Of course."_

* * *

Both of them woke at the same moment. Jim quickly silenced any questions that Harry might have asked by placing a hand over the boy's mouth and a finger over his own lips. Harry nodded, understanding, and Jim released him, stood up and motioned for him to follow as he slipped out of the room. 

As they walked down the stairs, Harry marveled at the stealth the big man displayed. _Military,_ he thought. This was a man who'd had reason to need quiet in the past, in situations where noise could have meant death. Harry remembered that Jim had been turned into a jaguar by the spiked soup. Looking at the Muggle now, he knew why. The man was a predator in human skin. 

They went to Blair and Ruth's room. Jim stopped at the door, listening to make sure they wouldn't be interrupting anything, then opening it soundlessly. He woke Blair with a hand on his mouth and an admonition to silence. Blair was instantly and fully awake. Sentinel-soft, he said, "What's wrong?" 

Jim pointed back at Harry, then pointed to his ear, mouthing 'Bugged.' Then he pointed to Ruth. Blair nodded. Harry had been magically bugged, so they would need the resident Auror to stop it. Blair waved at them to leave so that he could wake Ruth up quietly. 

Jim and Harry went to sit down in the living room. Very soon, Blair and Ruth came out of the bedroom. Ruth had her wand with her. It was already lit with a soft yellow glow before she exited the room. She swept the room with this light, until finally coming to Harry himself. When the light from the wand touched the scar on his forehead, an ugly green light came from it. Ruth quickly put it away, extinguishing the spell as she did. Then she stood and motioned for the two adults to follow her out of the room. Harry would have left with them, but she shook her head, telling him to remain still. 

Once out of Blair's hearing range, they stopped. Blair whispered, "What happened?" 

"I heard him shouting, a nightmare. I went down to get him out of it and that scar of his was glowing, very faintly. I doubt either of you would have even seen it. When I touched it, I was pulled into what Harry was seeing. There was a man talking to a snake, and either Harry can understand snakes or the snake was speaking like a human, but it was understandable. Anyway, he said, 'Our dear Mr. Potter has found himself a Shaman.' He kept on talking about the fact that Blair's untrained and that he could still be manipulated and he plans on making a grab for him. The snake asked him how he knew, and he said that when you pulled Harry out of the Dursleys' and made it look official, it broke the wards on him, so he can use whatever connection they have to listen in on him. He didn't know I was there, so I'm guessing it's audio only. And if I remember right, the only one who could be connected to him through that scar is Riddle himself." 

"Voldemort. Damn! I screwed up. I should have just boosted him like the Weaslys do every year." Ruth was horrified that she'd not only put Harry in greater danger, but now Blair was in it as well. 

Blair interrupted her. "Hey, it's not your fault. You did what you thought was best. Right now let's just figure out how to deal with this bug." Ruth nodded. 

They went back into the living room, where Harry was waiting nervously. Jim was still feeling like the jaguar was very close to the surface, so before Ruth could do anything, he knelt down in front of Harry, speaking in a low growl. "We know you bugged Harry, Riddle. We know what you're planning. Maybe you don't know much about Muggles, or cops for that matter, so let me enlighten you. Mess with my partner, and magic or no magic, no one will ever find your body." He was looking right at Harry, and the young wizard found himself being very glad that the message wasn't actually aimed at him. This man was scary! 

Ruth touched Harry's scar with her wand _"Abripio speculare."_ The scar glowed green, then red, then flashed white for a moment before stopping all together. 

The spell was painless, but Voldemort's anger was not, and the Dark wizard was furious. Harry clutched at his forehead, grinning around the pain. "Well, he didn't like that much, did he?" 

Jim grimaced. "Sorry, kid." 

"Don't worry about it. I just wish I could have seen his face." 

Blair chuckled. "You're all right, Harry." 

Ruth plopped down on the sofa. "I can't believe I miscalculated like that!" 

Harry shook his head. "It's not like you were told about the wards, and I didn't know enough about them myself to tell you it was a mistake. Professor Dumbledore has a habit of hiding the things he's done for my benefit, not just from everyone else, but from me as well. I think he just doesn't want to burden me with it, never mind that I'm perfectly capable of dealing with it on my own." He sighed. "He can't see past my age. He wants me to have a normal childhood, I suppose, but I've got to convince him somehow that it's just too late for that. Voldemort is going to keep coming after me, no matter what, and I need to be prepared for that." 

Jim thought about what Harry'd said. Then he thought about what he knew about the wizarding community so far. Wizards tended to ignore everything that happened in the rest of the world, and they usually dismissed a Muggle as having no chance of being a threat. Take Fred and George's tactical mistake earlier when they'd tried to hex him. They'd gotten too close and all he'd had to do was snatch their wands. That gave him an idea. "Why don't you let me teach you a few things, Harry? We're here for a couple of weeks before we have to get back to the States, so I can give you a good head start on some basic self defense, and once Blair's got this Shaman thing figured out, I'll be able to hitch a ride with her every once in a while to continue training you. I've noticed that wizards tend to dismiss the possibility of a non-magical attack. It could give you a tactical advantage if you know how to fight with your body in addition to your magic." 

Ruth grinned at the both of them. "That's a great idea!" 

Harry nodded as the pain subsided. "Sounds good." He sighed. "We need to send and owl to Professor Dumbledore and tell him that the wards on Privet Drive are gone. The Dursleys could be in danger now, especially since he's so angry." 

Ruth shook her head. "I'll use the mirrors." 

Blair said, "Okay, there isn't anything else you can do tonight, Harry. You should try and get some sleep. I know, not the easiest thing after a night like tonight, but try anyway. You're going to need to be well rested for anything Jim calls training." Then he ducked to avoid the expected smack to the back of his head. 

Harry chuckled at their antics, then stood and went up the stairs to the guest room he was sleeping in. 

Ruth said, "I'll call Dumbledore first thing in the morning." Then they all went back to bed. None of the four got any sleep for the rest of the night. 

* * *

In the morning, directly after breakfast, Ruth called Dumbledore using the mirror in the hall and everyone else gathered in the family room to collate the previous day's research. With the two spells that had been found, they knew that it would be possible to get someone to help Blair learn. Harry had told everyone what had happened during the night with Voldemort, including Jim's threatening him. Several of the wizards in the room had gone a bit bug-eyed at that, but Jim just grinned. Harry said, "Of course, this probably means he'll push up his timetable. He's rather angry at the moment." 

Blair narrowed his eyes at that statement. He put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "How bad is it?" 

Harry knew that Blair referred to the pain in his scar. He narrowed his eyes. "I can handle it." 

"I didn't ask if you could handle it." 

Harry grimaced. "I know. It's not too bad right now, but he's really mad. It comes and goes." 

"Harry, make sure you say something if it gets too bad." Harry nodded. "Okay, yesterday I found some interesting things. One of them is a Shamanistic spell that could be done by a wizard. It involves some light meditation and concentration on the person that they wish to contact. That means you have to at least have some knowledge of them and be able to picture their face and say their name. The spell will contact that person and make it possible for them to cross back over into this world for about three days. There's supposed to be a spell to allow them to be corporeal for that time, which would make the training easier, but I couldn't find it." 

Hermione grinned. _Perfect!_ "That's what we found! The spell has to be done by a wand, but I can charm an object rather than perform the spell in your presence. That way your head would be clear when you start." 

Harry smiled. "That's great!" 

Blair said, "What kind of object you use?" 

Hermione thought about it. "Well, I could charm anything, but it really should be something that will work well with what you are doing." She looked up at him. "You've said that there's a difference in the way wand magic and Shamanic magic feel. Can you describe that feeling? Maybe that will give us an idea." 

"Well for me, anyway, it's a flavor thing. The wand magic just 'tastes' earthier to me." 

Harry frowned. "I can sense magic somewhat. Ghosts, potions and herbs tend to have a different feel than wand magic, and Blair feels like that to me, only about a hundred times bigger." He shook his head. "It's weird." He turned to Blair. "Have you ever touched an exposed wire? Not one that was frayed and broken, just exposed?" When Blair nodded he continued. "Wand magic is like that, where natural magic is more like static discharge." 

Hermione and Blair suddenly looked at each other. They chorused, "Copper!" Blair kept going. "The conductivity would be perfect for both kinds of magic! It's perfect for carrying artificially manipulated energies, which is why it's used in electrical wiring and kettle bottoms, and it's close to the earth, as well as being readily available in nearly every part of the world. It won't interfere with the teaching because the teacher will be familiar with it." He grinned. "Not to mention the fact that every junk shop sells the stuff because it's in style right now for gardens and such." 

Hermione nodded. "Just make sure that it's solid, not plated or hollow." 

"Right," Harry agreed. "You wouldn't want the thing to blow up. Patina is okay, since it's natural to the metal." 

Ruth looked around the circle. "Okay, then. Blair and I can go shopping today and find a piece of copper that will work for the spell. Jim and Harry can get started on that physical defense training, and there's no reason the rest of you kids can't take those lessons, as well. Since you all seem to get into trouble together, it sure couldn't hurt." 

Jim suddenly heard something. Three pairs of feet on the ground outside, along with the swish of a wizard's robes trailing through the grass. Blair recognized the signs in his Sentinel and moved to stand beside him. "What is it?" 

"Someone's here." 

"How many?" 

"Three." 

Ruth trusted her fiancé and his partner. She was beside them in an instant, wand drawn, and the other wizards in the house followed suit, not knowing what was going on, but not willing to risk being caught unawares. 

However, there was a polite knock at the door. Ruth moved to answer it, keeping her wand at the ready. "Who is it?" 

"Albus Dumbledore, as well as some gentlemen who would like to visit with young Mr. Potter." 

Still not lowering her wand, wanting to make sure before lowering her guard, Ruth opened the door wide, getting it out of the way in case she should have to use her wand. 

But the precautions proved unnecessary. It was indeed Albus Dumbledore at the door, along with Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Black ignored the wary atmosphere and went straight for Harry, who was ecstatic to see him. "Harry!" 

"Sirius!" 

As godfather and godson embraced fiercely, the tension in the room evaporated, and everyone put their wands away. For the moment, all was right in the world, though no one in the house was under the illusion that the peace would last. 

After a few moments, however, Albus had to allow reality to break in. "I hate to mention this, but we did not come here merely for a social call." All eyes were now focused on the aging wizard. He looked grave, the accustomed twinkle gone from his eyes. "I'm afraid something terrible has happened." 

Harry's eyes narrowed. "If it's about the wards on Privet Drive, we know about that." 

"In a way. Harry, I'm afraid that the Dursley home has been destroyed. They never even awoke to know that something was wrong." 

* * *

_Cliffhanger! ^_^ Sorry this thing has taken so long to get out, but I've had a very weird life lately. Hopefully the next one won't take nearly so long. _


	5. Five

_Disclaimer: See Part One. _

Author's note: I'd like to thank everyone who has been so very patient with me while I've been working on this and other stories. Thanks for putting up with me. And thanks to my muse for poking my plans for this from just getting it finished to being a full fledged series arc. ignores groans from the peanut gallery Also, some of the curses and hexes seen in this story are courtesy of Saerry Snape's "A Guide To Hexes, Curses and Spells". (All hail the Lord and Lady Hex! >:D) 

Enjoy!

* * *

A Matter of Magic, Part Five

* * *

Harry just stared at Dumbledore. _They never even awoke to know that something was wrong._ Then... More people were dead because of him, because of who he was. 

Blair took one look at Ruth's face and grabbed her before she could fall. Jim snagged a chair out of the dining room and put it under her and Blair lowered her gently into it as she began to sob, blaming herself entirely for the deaths of the Dursleys. 

Then, before things could get any further out of hand Dumbledore said, "Dear me, I don't think I phrased that quite right. The Dursleys are alive, but they are severely injured. When the house fell, the walls collapsed inward, but there was a small space that was created by one wall supporting another. Ironically, this was the cupboard under the stairs, and when the upstairs bedrooms fell in, all three of them rolled into that area. They are being dug out as we speak." 

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but Ruth kept crying. Blair just knelt there beside her, rocking her gently as she recovered from her fright and murmuring words of comfort into her ear. Jim stood guard over them, ensuring that his Shaman and his Shaman's mate were not disturbed while they dealt with the emotional turmoil that had just been kicked up. 

Blair was furious at the Headmaster, but he knew that the old man had not intended to hurt Ruth like this, so he stifled it. He could see that Jim was just as angry, but he warned the Sentinel with a look that he had better not do anything rash. Jim pretended to pout, but nodded. 

Once they had settled back down, Harry made the round of introductions, making sure to give Ruth, Jim and Blair the whole story on Sirius and the fact that the warrants against him were based on false assumptions. Jim and Blair looked at each other. The warrants had even gotten to them in Cascade, but if the man was truly innocent... Jim turned to Black and said, "Tell me yourself. What happened that night?" No one could lie to a Sentinel. Even if one could fool a polygraph, Jim would know that they were lying because he didn't let them know and they didn't prepare against it. 

Sirius told them the entire story, from the Potters' use of the Fidellius charm and the switch of Secret Keepers to Peter's betrayal of them all and the measures the rat had taken to ensure that he would never be caught and that all blame for the incident would be piled on Sirius's head. Then Harry started telling them about everything that had happened in his third year, with Hermione and Ron adding in their bits. Sirius asked at one point whether it would really be considered murder if he ate Pettigrew when they were both in their Animagus forms. Dumbledore looked at him sourly and Jim glared. "Okay! Just asking!" Harry couldn't help but chuckle. 

Ruth had recovered as the others were talking, but she still clung to her fiancé with the strength of a drowning victim. Jim had grabbed a few more chairs out of the dining room so that more people could sit, including Blair, who just continued to hold his love and comfort her. He knew that she blamed herself for the situation with the Dursleys and things could still go badly. Blair had been part of enough rescue operations to know that the tiniest mistake could be disastrous. 

The cops and Auror agreed to not make a report. Neither could actually arrest him since they were out of their jurisdictions by a few thousand miles, but they would be taken seriously if they reported his presence. 

Dumbledore sat on one of the chairs during the entire conversation and watched the players with interest. Once they were all done talking, he changed the subject. "So, as a Shaman, will you be joining our fight against Voldemort?" 

Jim's eyes narrowed at the old man, distrust evident in his features as he moved protectively in front of his Guide. They certainly hadn't told the old man that! But Blair put a hand on his arm, getting him to back off a bit, if not to back down. "I am untrained. And Riddle accidentally made his plans to come after me plain. He knows about the link to Harry and he bugged the scar. But he doesn't know very much about me or my partner, and he screwed up. So now we're on guard. However, there may still be no way for me to actually interfere in this fight. I just don't know yet. All I do know is that we have to be ready when he tries." 

"How did you discover his surveillance?" 

Blair shook his head. "I don't even know you. I don't know that I can trust you. I'm fairly certain that you mean me no ill will, but I would be very stupid to tell someone I just met every little secret I have. Besides, not every secret I have is mine to tell." 

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand. Very well. Harry, I will inform you as soon as I know anything about your relatives." 

He turned to leave but before he could, Harry stopped him. "Headmaster, before you go, I have to say something. I can't go back to the Dursleys, no matter what. I'll break every law in the wizard world about underage magic before I return to their nonexistent care." 

"Harry..." 

Ruth broke in. "No, Headmaster. Harry's right. If I'd seen what I did in the States, I wouldn't have just gotten him out of that house. I'd have called Blair and Social Services and had the Dursleys charged with neglect and endangerment. They regularly underfed him and they had about five locks on his door and bars on the window. If there'd been a fire, Harry would have been either toast or under arrest for underage magic. You made a poor choice of guardians, sir, I will make myself and my department known in this country if you attempt to continue it." 

"But there are certain factors..." 

"You put up blood-keyed wards, right? Riddle knew about them and he would eventually have found a way around them. As it is, any new ones will be a lot less stable because of the way he returned to full life. He has a blood-key to anything of that nature." 

Dumbledore wavered. "I'll think of something. There is time." He turned and left the house, the twinkle completely gone from his eyes. 

Harry sat down and contemplated his shoes. "He's mad at me." 

Remus shook his head. "No he's not, Harry. He's disappointed with himself. He truly believed that Lily's sister would love you like her own son just because you were family. He never listened to anyone that she was spiteful and jealous of her sister for having control over a power that she could never touch. To him, family is the most important thing. He can't conceive of a different point of view." 

Jim snorted at that. "He ought to take a look at some of our case files. Hell, even my old man was no prize." 

"It's not that he doesn't know, academically, but he won't think of it."

* * *

After a while, Blair went shopping for copper with Sarah Granger, since she knew where all the best places were. Meanwhile, Fred, George, Ron and Molly arrived, the twins and Molly wrapping the candies in the kitchen. Jim and Ruth took Harry out into the back yard, Ron, Hermione, Remus and Sirius following. 

"All right, Harry," Jim began, "what we're going to be doing is showing you how to fight a wizard without using magic. I'm going to show you what I would do. Mr. Black?" Sirius came over. "Attack me." 

"What?" 

"You two are adult wizards; you're allowed to use your wands, and I need to demonstrate. Just use something that I'll be able to get over quickly in case I can't stop you." But Jim's face wasn't worried. In fact, he smirked as he said it, knowing that would provoke the man at least a little, though he didn't know him at all. 

Sirius grinned, knowing exactly what the man was up to, but believing him to be overconfident. After all, he was a Muggle, and he most likely hadn't known about the wizard world for very long. So he drew his wand and approached Jim. But before he could open his mouth to say a word, the cop lunged at him, grabbed hold of his wand hand (right) with his own right hand, spun backwards along the wizard's arm and planted an elbow in his face. Then he spun back out, twisting the wand hand as he went so that the wand was forced up and back and the elbow was strained nearly to the snapping point. "Now at this point you have a couple of options, Harry. You should first get him to drop his wand. You don't want to take your hand away because he could get loose, but right now he can't move very well without breaking or dislocating his arm. The more you move his hand upwards, the more painful it will be, so he'll drop his weapon. Then you can either continue and break his wrist or you can kick with your right leg and smash him in the face. Either way, once you've released him, make sure you take his wand with you. That will give you the advantage." 

Jim released Sirius gently, then picked up his wand and handed it back. Sirius was hurting in his wrist and along the bridge of his nose, and he had to admit that he'd underestimated the man. 

"Now, I had an advantage here that Black knew nothing about. I joined the army when I was eighteen and I was a Captain before I got out. I'm also a nine-year veteran of the Cascade, Washington Police Department. I have the advantage here because I just see the wand as another weapon, at least in a close-quarters fight, and I know how to take care of an armed man when I'm not armed. 

"Most armed men are going to underestimate an unarmed one, and that could easily cause them to become careless. You can take advantage of that. You also need to be prepared for the eventuality that they're smarter than that and are actually paying attention to what you're doing. Once you've committed yourself, you'll have no choice but to follow through or be killed. You need to develop a set of reflexes that will allow you to dodge what they're throwing at you until you get close enough to disarm them, and you need the skill to handle them if they've got the same idea. And once the twins have finished their candies, I'd suggest you keep a couple in your pocket. You're a falcon; it'll give you a quick escape route." 

Harry nodded. "Makes sense. And most Death Eaters are so elitist that they would never learn to do something the Muggle way. It's non-magical, therefore it must be inferior to magic." 

Jim nodded. "Exactly. Now, we start with the basics." He faced Harry and put his hand out, palm forward. "Let's see how you punch." 

Thanks to Dudley and his gang of lackeys, Harry had learned how to handle himself somewhat, but that mostly involved the fine art of ducking. He wasn't exactly skilled. So, when Harry threw his punch, it had plenty of force behind it, the young wizard putting his entire body into the blow, but his fist was in a bad position. Jim noticed immediately and moved his hand so that Harry wouldn't break his wrist. "Don't angle your wrist. You want the fist lined up with the arm bones; otherwise the wrist will bend too far when you strike and you'll break something." They continued working until everyone had returned to the Granger house.

* * *

Sarah had found a couple of rather interesting pieces that could be used, but one in particular had struck Blair's fancy, a jolly little statue of a dragon. It was meant as a paper weight, so it was solid and heavy, perfect for it's intention. They had also found a few pieces of copper jewelry that Blair thought he might be able to use later, including a piece with a wolf on it that he planned to use later. He had an idea, but it would have to wait until his training was complete. 

Ruth took the dragon out to the back and placed the Living Spirit charm on it, along with a trigger phrase, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus." It was the Hogwarts school motto, and it was just ironic enough that several people were sent rolling in the aisle. 

Dinner that night was tense. Blair would have to fast during his training, and he would be hungry, thirsty and tired once he was done, so he had to deal with Molly and Sarah trying to stuff him like a Christmas turkey and drown him with the amount of water they were asking him to drink. Blair knew that Jim felt the same, which is why the Sentinel didn't try and stop the well meaning women from mothering him. If they hadn't, he would have. The kids all spent the meal trying not to laugh their heads off at the poor bloke's misfortune, Harry in particular, as he'd been on the receiving end of Molly's good intentions before. 

Blair spent the night making love to his fiancé, ensuring that she knew she was loved just in the unlikely case that something should go horribly wrong. It wasn't that he thought something might, but he had no intention of leaving anything unsaid in the meanwhile. After all, his trouble magnet was well documented. 

Ruth wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what he was doing. He often spent a full, precious night like this with her when he was about to get involved in a particularly dangerous case or when he'd seen too much at work. He was very careful with her emotions, and she loved him all the more for it. Some times she worried that he had some kind of premonition ability, because invariably, when he did this, something went wrong and he or Jim were severely injured. One case had left him in a coma for a week. He knew that something could happen, and so did she, so they made the most of the midnight, and dared the dawn to intrude on their happiness.

* * *

Morning saw Jim and Blair out in the back yard watching the sunrise. "Jim, this is safe. That's not what has me bothered." 

Jim nodded. "Riddle." 

"Yeah. He knows that I'll have to do something. It's only a matter of time before he comes here. Harry and I have been talking a lot, and there's a spell that, should he use it, he could control me completely. From the way he was talking when you overheard him, I think that once I'm trained, he won't be able to do that, but if he gets hold of me before that--" 

"I won't let him!" 

"Jim, stop. I need to know that you won't let me hurt anyone, no matter what that means." 

He was asking Jim to stop him, permanently if need be. He didn't know if he could do that. "Blair--" 

"Please, Jim. Promise me this. I need to know that they're safe from what a Shaman could do to them." 

Jim looked into his Shaman's eyes, seeing the desperation within them. He sighed and nodded. "All right. But you can't expect me not to join you." 

Blair nodded. "Just make sure Ruth is taken care of before you go." 

"Of course." The two men embraced. "Be safe, brother." 

"As I can, my brother." 

Blair sat down on the grass of the lawn, placing the copper dragon and a pillar candle in front of him on the ground. Jim stayed close, but he didn't crowd in. Blair lit the candle, using it as a meditative focus. When he was ready, he first activated the dragon. Then he began the ritual to call out for his teacher, who would be Incacha. It was only fitting that the one who passed him the Way be the one to teach him how to use it. He focused inward, to his magical center and visualizing Incacha's face, as it had been when Blair had first seen him in the loft, ignoring the way he had looked as he passed away in Jim's arms. _"May the winds bring forth the one I seek, the one who holds the truth I need to know. May the fire of his soul be awakened, the waters of the river of death part for a time to allow him to cross and the Earth accept his presence once again. Thrice shall the sun set and thrice shall it rise before he shall be called to return to the place from whence he came. Incacha!"_

At first nothing happened, but within moments, first the Jaguar and the Wolf walked into the circle, fading into solidity as they crossed the invisible barrier emitted by the copper statue, and then came Incacha. The Chopec actually appeared a bit younger than he had in Cascade, more like he must have seemed when Jim had originally known him in Peru. 

Jim inclined his head toward his old friend, glad at this chance to see him again, even if they wouldn't get the chance to talk as the Shaman would have to focus his attention on Blair. Incacha nodded in acknowledgement to the Sentinel. "It is good to see you Enquiri, but I must be alone with this one." 

Jim nodded. "I understand. It is good to see you, my friend." He turned to walk away, but the Jaguar stepped up beside him first. Grinning at the cat, Jim knelt down to stroke its fur and whispered, "Let me know if I am needed. I'll be in the house." The great cat winked at his human, as if to tell him not to worry. He would be on guard.

* * *

Two days passed at the Granger house. The time passed slowly and uneventfully, the atmosphere tense with the knowledge that Voldemort could come at any moment. Jim, Ruth and Harry were constantly watching the activity in the yard, all for slightly different reasons. For Jim, it was the natural protectiveness of the Sentinel toward his Guide. For Ruth, it was the worry of a lover. For Harry, it was the knowledge that, should Voldemort seize this man through the grip of the Imperius Curse before he had the ability to fight it off, the dark wizard would be certain to send the Shaman after Harry, and he had no way to fight a Shaman. He would loose spectacularly. 

Blair was fully immersed in his training. He wouldn't know you were there if you stood behind him and yelled "Boo!" or smacked him on the head. He was in and out of the spirit plane, at one point flickering alarmingly and it had taken the Jaguar and Wolf standing in his path to keep Jim from barreling in there and making certain for himself that Blair was okay. 

From what Hermione had been able to glean of the resources Blair had brought home with him from the Oxford Library, she was able to tell them something of what was going on. "Right now, I believe Blair's brain is being used like the organic computer it really is, and all the information his teacher can download into him is being packed into his head. That's the only way they can get it all to him in the time allowed by the spell. Training on the living plane takes _years_. He's only got three days." 

The Granger house was under constant guard and surveillance by the Order of the Phoenix, the organization which had opposed Voldemort during the first war and Dumbledore's "old crowd". Sirius and Remus were frequent visitors those three days, and others were introduced; Nymphadora Tonks and Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody both seemed to grate on Jim's senses in one way or another, and Severus Snape only made the mistake of insulting Blair once. Tonks' actually caused a zone when Jim watched her change her face. He could see too much detail as she shifted. Moody's eye really bugged the Sentinel, if only because it was always watching and that set off instinctive alarms. 

The original plan had been to move everyone to Sirius Black's house, which was being used as the Order's headquarters, but with such competent protectors already in place, they kept Harry there. Harry didn't complain, though it irked him that Dumbledore wouldn't tell him anything. He didn't complain because he just knew that Voldemort was going to strike _here_, and he needed to be where he could protect his friends. 

It was strange knowing that he wasn't Voldemort's primary target, at least for the moment. On the one hand, Blair was both more vulnerable while he was in a spiritual trance, and more capable of dealing with bad guys in general because of his age and experience. On the other, Harry felt like the monster was _his_ responsibility, not Blair's, and he was uncomfortable with the thought of anyone else fighting his battles.

* * *

Time ran out as the sun set for the third time. Harry's scar flared to life just moments before there was a crash at the front of the house and the front door was knocked in. Voldemort was here! 

Ruth had done the practical thing two nights before and gone back to the loft in Cascade to retrieve Jim's weapon and a couple of extra clips. He was very glad that she had as the comforting weight of the Sig Saur pistol filled his right hand following the loud crashing noises of the front door. 

There were Death Eaters everywhere. The occupants of the house were severely outnumbered, but they also had certain advantages. First, Jim had a weapon that the Death Eaters had no experience with and which could fire much more quickly than they could fire off a spell. Second, Fred and George had been plotting in the eventuality of just such an emergency and had modified several of their existing pranks into more dangerous forms which could be used as weapons. And third, Ruth, Remus and Sirius were all inside the house and ready to fight. 

Jim used a whole clip before someone had the brains to disarm him. "Expelliarmus!" He was thrown backward, his weapon flying from his hand. The Death Eater moved forward, intent on finishing off this troublesome Muggle. Jim had no intention of giving up without a fight and got to his feet quickly. 

From the banister George shouted, "Ellison! Drink this!" And he threw something at the cop's head. Jim caught the vial with ease and popped the cork, downing the contents in one gulp. He knew enough about the twins to trust them in a fight. He felt himself changing immediately and grinned. The jaguar let out a roar of challenge and leapt at the Death Eater, flattening the masked man and knocking the wind out of him. He grasped the wand out of the suddenly limp fingers and snapped it between his jaws. Then he looked around to see where he was most needed and leapt to assist young Ginny where the curses of a third year student were not proving to be enough. 

The twins started making the rounds with their burdens of potion, getting to everyone they could and hexing Death Eaters along the way. Ginny was the first they got to after Jim and the little ocelot was tearing into her attackers. Sarah and Jeremy used their forms to flee, knowing they were out of their league in this fight. Molly remained human, far more effective that way, as did Arthur, Ron and Bill. Charlie was too big as a dragon to contribute so he remained human as well. Ruth's pit bull self had currently locked her jaws around a Death Eater's leg, pulling at him in order to trip him. Hermione was in the air, wand in claw, casting hexes and curses the angle of her flight pattern. She was deadly accurate, and several Death Eaters were incarcerated by her "Obvolvo" curse. Others had been wounded severely by the curse "Mordeo", which was a cutting curse. 

Meanwhile, Harry was fighting back to back with Ruth and Sirius. Imposter or not, Harry had learned a lot from Barty Crouch Jr. and was putting it to good use. He knew that he wouldn't be able to use the Unforgivables, but there were some other things he could do that were standing him in good stead, such as "Caecus", which caused temporary blindness, "Speculum", which caused spells to be reflected away from their target, and "Alter Casus" which caused someone's legs to collapse. He spotted a Death Eater pointing his wand at Jim, who was looking the other way at a different threat. He cast "Commoveo!" and the man was thrown backwards into a wall. He slid down it, unconscious. Having dealt with his other opponent, Jim turned and nodded at Harry in acknowledgement, then jumped back into the fray. 

The fight had gone on for half an hour before Voldemort finally got through to the back door and went out on the lawn. There was the Shaman! An insane grin split his reptilian face. He was so deep in his trance that he looked to be completely unaware of anything that was going on around him. Perfect! The Dark Lord aimed his wand at the burgeoning Shaman, intent on casting "Imperio". 

But he was caught by surprise as Blair Sandburg suddenly rose up out of his seated position. The Shaman turned around to face the evil being who wanted to take him away from his Sentinel. His voice was strangely distant as he addressed the dark one. "You cannot succeed. My power is not my own, to do with as you wish. If you controlled me, you would not control my power, for it belongs to the Spirits, and they would kill me before allowing it. However, they would never need to, for they have given me more than enough to defeat you. Now, leave this place. I may not be your enemy; it is forbidden. The battle of the wizards is not the battle of a foreign Shaman. But I may defend those within my tribe and those in my vicinity." 

Voldemort smirked. "We shall see. Imperio!" 

The results were spectacular. Blair just held up a hand, and a tremendous blast of energy surged along the path of the curse, knocking Voldemort into unaided flight. Jim had finally made it outside as this occurred and watched the evil creature's trajectory. _Wow! I think he landed in the English Channel!_

Blair looked at Jim sheepishly. "Oops. I really didn't mean to hit him that hard. Looks like I'm going to have to practice with this thing." 

The jaguar just grinned at him. 

Just then, the Spirits who had come to Blair's call all showed themselves. Incacha grinned at the sight of Enquiri wearing the form of his Spirit Guide to do battle. Wolf laughed in his doggy way and Jaguar just snorted. The older Shaman said, "It is time for me to leave you, Enquiri. I must give you one thing to remember. One of your tribe will become the mate of the savior these magicians. Both are too young yet for their destinies, but the time will soon come when they will have to stand against this enemy to save their world. You must remember this when the mate chooses him. They will need your support against the adversity of others." 

Jim nodded. He would remember. So would Blair.

* * *

It took a few hours to get those Death Eaters who hadn't escaped trussed up and the Ministry called to come and deal with them. At first, Minister Fudge and a woman named Dolores Umbridge, tried to expel all four underage students for their use of magic, but there were too many witnesses. If the word of a werewolf wasn't acceptable, then the word of an Auror and two Muggle cops had better be. Besides, if they tried it, Jim told them that they'd better be prepared to punish him as well for shooting to defend himself from the attackers. Umbridge said, "Well of course, we wouldn't charge _you_ with anything! You not only are trained and licensed, but you are a Muggle and beyond our power to punish." 

"So, I'm out of your jurisdiction. Doesn't change the fact that these kids only did what they had to do to survive. I'd imagine that wizard newspapers all over the globe might like to hear about it if you tried to prosecute them for it." 

The Minister puffed up. "Are you threatening us, sir?" 

"Absolutely, and don't think I won't go through with it. I know just how powerful a weapon public opinion can be against jumped up officials." 

Bair was right behind him, his eyes flat with anger. "One would think that the Minister of Magic would be more concerned with the fact that one of the greatest terrorists his nation has ever produced is back in action, and with protecting his people from a madman like Tom Riddle." 

"Just because some of his old cronies are still active, it doesn't mean that the man himself is back from the dead. No, there is no reason for me to believe that You-Know-Who is anything but dead. The matter is closed!" 

Dumbledore stepped up into the conversation. "You will regret not listening to me, Cornelius. There is more at stake in this than you know." 

"Pish. You need to stay out of the Muggle sweets. You're getting strange ideas from them. Now, I must be going. Good bye, Headmaster." 

Jim came out from where he was listening. "What is that guy's problem? How much evidence does he need?" 

Dumbledore sighed. "He does not want to believe, and so he refuses to. His hiding from the facts is sure to endanger a great many people." 

Jim shook his head. "I won't ask how he got into office. Heaven knows our own politicians are just as bad." He looked up. "This is going to make things difficult, isn't it." 

"I dare say it will."

* * *

Blair's training had been completely successful. He sat for three hours with Jim and Ruth in a room she'd spelled sound-proof, telling them about it. And it came down to just a few things. His power did NOT belong to him. Like his weapon had been issued by the Cascade Police Department, his abilities, while a part of him, were on loan from the Spirit world, and he was accountable to them for how he used them. 

There were rules. His jurisdiction included his family, his mate and her family, his Sentinel and his family and Cascade, just as Jim's did. That meant that, while Hermione could be under his protection, Harry could not, nor could the wizarding community at large. He could not use his power to kill, no matter the circumstances, and he could never be cruel. If the Spirit world decided that he was abusing his power in any way, he could be stripped of that power. It ensured that no Shaman could become dark as a wizard could. It was the trade off that the first wizards had made. They had less power than a Shaman, but they could do whatever they wanted with it. But a Shaman was never alone. The Spirits were always behind their chosen ones. And Blair was something else besides. He was also a Guide. 

The bond between Sentinel and Guide was so strong that the Sentinel could tap into the Shaman Guide's power if it was needed. A Guide was an enhanced Shaman, just as a Sentinel was an enhanced Muggle. Blair explained it. "Remember the vision at the fountain? That's what happened. You tapped into my abilities to stop me from crossing over." 

Jim blinked. Then... "Is that what happened in the Temple? You were there the whole time. Even though every vision was dark, you were there through the whole thing, supporting me." 

Blair nodded. "And all I could think about was getting to you. Incacha actually apologized for telling you to go without me, but he needed for me to keep Megan out of harm's way." 

"So what kind of powers are we talking about here?" 

Blair grinned and turned to his fiancé. Singing the theme to Green Acres, he said, "Anything you can do I can do better." She smirked and swatted his arm. "Seriously, though, it all depends on the situation. With the average perp on the street, I won't have to use it much. With the psychos, I'll be able to calm them down a lot easier. I'll have less chance of ending up in the situation I had with Lash, and I can do that for anyone around me, as well. I'll be able to deal with the odd magical creature I might come in contact with, which in our area is going to be things like migrating thunderbirds and rock dragons, and I'll have a connection with other animals as well. Parceltongue is a rare gift among wizards, but a Shaman can speak to snakes and any other reasonably intelligent creature, pretty much anything smarter than fish and frogs. 

"I'll also be able to tell the emotional state of any person I come in contact with. I've already been doing that some, but it's been a little unreliable. I'll do a lot better now with that, and it should come in very handy. And I can always ask for help if we need it, direct from the Spirit Guides. Oh, and as soon as Ruth and I are back from our honey moon, I'm under orders to tell Simon and the Commissioner about my abilities and new responsibilities. It's up to Warren as to whether or not I have a conflict of interest. Incacha just can't figure out our legal system. Too convoluted." 

"So he's leaving that decision up to Warren. Damn. Well, Warren already knows about me, and he knows we're a package deal. It shouldn't be a problem." 

Blair shrugged. "Maybe. He's going to have to deal with the fact that my responsibility is to the people first and the law second. That sounds like a conflict to me, but if he can handle it, I'll be happy to stay with the P.D. If not--" 

Jim nodded. He sat back to think, but it didn't take too long. "Well, according to Incacha, your spiritual jurisdiction and mine are the same. Only makes sense that if he makes you leave, I will, too. We're partners. Period." 

Blair grinned. "Good." He turned to Ruth. "Now, some things, like Muggle baiting and such, I'll make sure and call you in for. That's still your job. The Spirits aren't too fond of wizards at large, because the first ones abandoned the Spirits for their own power. Doesn't make any difference on an individual level, but I'll be less obligated to deal with the wizarding community because they're more able to defend themselves." 

Ruth nodded. "Makes sense. Is it all right for me to tell Swackey about you two, or would you rather I not?" 

Jim and Blair looked at each other. Blair shook his head. "Let's deal with one set of bosses at a time, see what happens with Commissioner Warren before we make any decisions." 

"Okay."

* * *

_That's it for Part Five. The epilogue should be done pretty quick, so don't go any where. Reviews please! _


	6. Six

_Disclaimer: See Part One. _

_Author's note: Sorry it's been so long. I've had a wedding, two moves, a computer crash and a bad case of writer's block all happen in this past year, which made getting this chapter out very difficult. But I've still been thinking about it, and that breeds plotbunnies. There will be plenty of story to come, extending this all the way into Harry's seventh year. Some of it will be primarily TS, some HP, and some that is truly crossed over. _

_Aside from the story problems, I ended up working on a Linux system after my computer crashed, and I didn't have internet access at my house. You can imagine the frustration, but I promise it was the dog who ate my couch, not me. Now I have a new(er) computer and once again have both Windows and internet, so I'm back in business. _

_That's all for now. Enjoy!_

* * *

A Matter of Magic, Part 6

* * *

_St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries..._

"No. Absolutely not! Those _freaks_ were after HIM, trying to make HIM feel guilty enough to do something stupid! It would be far better for everyone concerned if you find him a new guardian. Besides, I believe that we will have to stay with my sister, Marge, until the insurance pays for the house. The boy simply _cannot_ control himself around her! He blew her up like a balloon, for God's sake! No, there is no way I'm letting him or any of you _freaks_ near me or my family ever again!"

Dumbledore sighed. There was no doubt that Vernon Dursley was speaking from fear and prejudice, but the result was the same. Harry would not be going back to the Dursleys. He would have to figure out something for this summer, but then he had a year to do so for the nest one. He was confident that he could find a solution for Harry to keep him safe.

* * *

_Granger House..._

Harry sighed as Dumbledore finished telling him what Uncle Vernon had said. Honestly, he couldn't blame the man. He'd just had his house fall on him! But that made things very difficult for Harry. Where was he going to stay for the rest of the summer that wouldn't put people at risk from protecting him?

The problem sat on his mind for a day, and he told Blair about it; having quickly found that the Shaman made a very good sounding board, he told him a lot of things. But Blair had an idea. He'd just have to discuss it with Ruth and Jim first. And when he did, they enthusiastically agreed with his plan.

At dinner that night, the last night that the Americans would be in England, Blair broached the subject. "Okay. I've got an idea, and I want to see what you think about it, Harry. I think it would be great if you came back with us to Cascade for the rest of the Summer. It would have the advantage of putting you in my city so I'd be allowed to protect you. You'd get to see our little corner of America, play tourist for a while. You'd have to go home after the wedding, because we're going to Hawaii for our honeymoon, but then you could stay with the Weasleys until school started. What do you think?"

Harry's eyes bugged out. "You're serious?" Blair grinned and nodded. "I'd love that! I'm a ward of the school, though, now that Vernon has thrown me out. Not that I'm complaining, but you'll have to get Dumbledore to approve it."

That shouldn't be a problem. He may not know that much about Shamen, but he knows that they're powerful and he knows I bear you no ill will."

And he proved to be right. The Headmaster enthusiastically endorsed the idea, and Harry packed what few belongings he had gotten out that night before going to sleep.

* * *

_Cascade, Washington..._

The American wizarding community was very different from the European one. America was referred to as a mongrel nation, whether wizard or Muggle, and purity of blood wasn't nearly as important in the States as it was overseas. The result was a closer union of the two than any foreigner had a right to suspect, and wizarding law had the same kinds of strictures as Muggle law, but criminal and civil. Wizards were held to the Constitution just as Muggles were, and wizards had just as much a love/hate relationship with paper and documentation. In America, paper makes the world go 'round.

The first day Harry Potter spent on American soil was spent hip deep in paper work, both for him and for his American sponsors. They had to get him a temporary visa and file housing arrangements, register Harry's wand and his store of porions ingredients, and his invisibility cloak. There were all kins of regulations that had to be explained to him and he was also fingerprinted and photographed for the visa. It was a long and drawn out process, and by the end of the day, which was eight hours later than it was in England, Harry was glad enough to simply fall onto the sofa in Jim's living room.

The next day, Harry woke to the sun in his face. Blearily, he opened his eyes and saw a window in a strange place. It was neither to the left of his head, nor behind him and to the right. Instead, it was straight ahead. Bemembering, Harry sat up and felt around for his glasses, then looked around the room. The window proved to be a tall glass door with sheer curtains about six feet from the end of the couch he was sleeping on. In front of the couch was a wooden coffee table, to one side was an arm chair, and to the other was a small table. On the far wall was a large entertainment center and a set of shelves that held books and assorted knickknacks, as well as a mantle and fireplace with a painting of a wolf and a black jaguar hunting together above it. The painting would have been strange in any other household, as the two animals would hardly have been in each other's presences without killing one another in life, but it fit Jim and Blair very well.

Behind the couch and across the room was a breakfast bar which separated the kitchen-and-dioning area from the living area. Seeing the kitchen alerted him to what his other senses were telling him, mainly the scents ov coffee and bacon and the sound of a utensil clacking and scraping on an iron skillet. They were more than enough to make his mouth water, as he had slept through his normal breakfast time. He knew that it would take a few days to get acclimated to the new time zone, so for now he would be behind.

Jim immediately saw that Harry was awake. "Hey, kid. Feel better?"

He nodded. "I must have slept hard. I don't remember waking up even once."

"Like a rock. Food's almost ready. Go ahead and get a shower. Blair stayed at Ruth's place last night, so he's not here to use up the hot water."

Deciding that sounded like a very good idea, Harry nodded and looked around for his trunk. Finding it on the floor beside the couch, which was probably where his glasses had been sitting, he knelt in front of it to open it up. He got out his shaving kit and a change of clothes, then headed for the loo and a very welcome shower.

Breakfast was ready by the time Harry was done, so all he had to do was tuck in. While they ate, Jim talked to Harry about teaching him more than just how to punch straight. "I'm not going to put you through boot camp, and I'm not going to teach you how to kill, but I can probably give you a basic idea of how to defend yourself physically and keep in shape. I'd like to keep in contact with you through the school year and keep track of the progress you're making. Sandburg said that his jurisdiction is Cascade, just like mine, but there's nothing wrong with giving you the tools you need to keep _your_ part of the world safe."

Harry agreed. "Thank you. I haven't had much training in physical defense, though."

"That's all right. I can teach you from the beginning. I know you've also got homework to do over the summer. You're not getting out of it just because you're on foriegn soil."

Harry grinned. "Maybe I'll actually be able to do my homework well instead of quickly this year. The Dursleys didn't like to let me do it before, and this year..." He couldn't go any further. He hadn't done his work this year because he had been too immersed in the memory of Dedric's death.

Jim put a hand on his shoulder. "That's all right, kid. There's plenty of time to do it now that you can think straight." He removed his hand and changed tyhe subject. "Now, Blair and I have to go to work today, as does Ruth. She thought it would be easiest if you stayed with me and Blair today. She said she wanted to show Cascade's wizarding neighborhood to all of us at the same time, tomorrow, since it's a Sunday. If Blair and I have3 to roll on something, we'll leave you at the station house with Simon, our boss. You can fill him in on things." Jim looked toward the balcony doors. "Sounds like Blair just got here."

"What sound is that?" Harry hadn't heard anything.

"His car. It's an old Volvo, and annoying isn't even the word for some of the noises that thing makes."

"How can you hear it? Aren't we on the third floor or something?"

Jim nodded. "Yeah. I hear a lot that other people don't. There's a lot to Blair's and my story, but I'm going to wait until he's up here to tell you about it. He tells it so much better than I do."

Harry was content to wait, but still he wondered what could possibly be added to the story of the Shaman he had so easily learned to trust.

* * *

The two detectives were a familiar sight that had been missed for the last two weeks. Curiosity was rampant about the teen who was accompanying them, as it was obvious that he wasn't in custody, but most people knew better than to ask such questions so bluntly. The only ones who were likely to be informed were the rest of the Major Crimes Unit. That didn't keep people from being grateful for the return of the CPD's best team.

Jim and Blair were both aware of the scrutiny, and they ignored it, just grateful to be home. England had been great, but the environment had been just different enough to give them an ever-present stress, a pull to return to their own territory, and that stress being gone was like a breath of fresh air.

Harry was used to being stared at, but these people didn't know him, or think they knew him just because of the scar on his forehead, and their simple curiosity was actually a relief. They might think he was a witness, or a cousin, or simply a teen who'd won a treat for some reason. They didn't look to him with either wild hope or disgust, pride or disdain. To them, he was just another kid. He didn't have to live up to anyone's expectations. It was a good feeling.

Once they got to the seventh floor, it was an entirely different atmosphere. They walked in through the open doors of the bullpen and found that Blair's desk, as predicted, had been decorated with marriage jokes. They ranged from the cheep paper and plastic gags available at any party supplies outlet to a white satin ring pillow with a gold-plated set of thumb cuffs on it in lieu of rings. the whole crew was there, applauding and laughing at the expense of the intellectual half of their favorite partnership.

Blair just grinned andtook the ribbing in the good nature with which it had been given. "That's right, laugh it up, guys. Is there so little crime in this city that you have to get your kicks picking on the little guy?"

Simon Banks was grinning around his cigar. "Now, Sandburg, who are you to go bucking tribal tradition? That pair of 'rings' has been passed down to every soon-to-be-married man in this unit since they were given to my first captain in 1973. Those things are almost as old as you."

Joel taggert cracked, "Not that old, are they?" That brought on a renewed bout of chuckles.

Megan Connor said, "Now, now, he's not the youngest detective anymore. There are a couple in Robbery and one in Homicide who are at least a year younger than he is."

Brian Rafe grinned. "Not that they have even a third of your experience."

"Yeah. It's not like the title of 'Cosmic Trouble Magnet' could possibly go to anyone else in this century." That had been Henri Brown.

Harry chuckled, thinking he could probably dispute that title himself some day. But the sound caused attention to shift to the unfamiliar face in the group. Simon said, "Who's this?"

Blair turned to Harry quickly, as if he had almost forgotten the young wizard was there. "Oh, this is my wife's adopted nephew. He's staying with us for the summer until after the wedding. Everyone, meet Harry Potter."

Suddenly Harry was the center of attention, but it wasn't like it was at home. Once again, it was just honest curiosity that had drawn their gazes, not rock-star stalking, fear, or disgust. He smiled nervously. "Hi."

Simon, however, obviously knew something more. His face hardened and he caught Blair's eye. The younger man touched his watch. Later, then. He nodded but shot sandburg a glare that said later had better not be too long in coming.

After cake and punch had been served in the break room, Simon bellowed at everyone to get their butts to work, then motioned for Blair, Jim and Harry to follow him into his office. He sat down behind his desk and said, "All right, what's going on?"

Blair started. "First, I only obfuscated a little. Ruth's neice is one of Harry's best friends and her sister wanted to adopt him, but technically he's a ward of the school and the Headmaster wouldn't allow it. He needed a place to stay that those terrorists couldn't get to him so easily."

"And what makes Cascade the place for that? Especially when you attract more trouble than all of Britain put together?"

"You know that Shaman thing? Well I just got a hell of a lot more proficient in it. It's a very long story, but you're going to need to know it. I'm kind of under orders to tell you immediately and Warren after the honeymoon."

"Orders from whom?" growled Simon.

"Incacha."

Simon groaned and sat back in his comfortable office chair. He hated the supernatural crap. "All right. Can the kid be here for this conversation, or do we need to send him back out to the party?"

"Harry's fine. He's going to need to know how the spirit world works soon, if things go the way I think they will." Blair told his superior all that had happened during their trip to Britain, not glossing over even the smallest detail. But when he got to the part where he had been in a trance, Harry got to hear things that he never had before. "It was like learning how to move light. Hard to describe. But there are rules, and I learned a few things that will be coming up for Harry. The rules are pretty simple. See, the spirit world chooses the people who will be born with those gifts that can help to protect people. They choose the Sentinels, the Shamen, and the guides. A Guide is an enhanced Shaman. But the power doesn't belong to me to do with as i will. I have to follow orders or they'll take it. Now that doesn't mean they don't let me think for myself, but it does mean that I can't kill or maim or be cruel. I'll be able to help everyone around me with their everyday stuff, with how they deal with the job."

"So does not killing mean that you can't defend yourself with lethal force if you use the gun?"

"It does, but it also means that I won't need to. Shamanic magic is the strongest kind on the planet, and I won't have to worry about me or Jim getting killed on the job. I can deflect a spell or a bullet. Here, I'll show you a mild example." Blair took a blank sheet of paper from Simon's fax machine and wadded it into a ball. Then he made sure that the blinds were closed before handing Simon the ball. "Throw it at me."

Harry watched with extreme interest, curious about what the Shaman could do on the battlefield. Simon grinned as he threw the paper, probably something he had wanted to do since this conversation started. But it never made it's target. Instead, it bounced off a deflection shield that had a kind of strength Harry had never seen. It was alive with Power, the power of Nature herself. Harry had no problem believing that it could block a bullet. It might even be able to block the Killing Curse. Unconsciously, Harry whispered, "Wicked!"

Blair grinned, but he continued with his explanation. "Now that doesn't mean I can't keep the gun with me. It just means I won't have to use it. I'll be able to calm down a stressed-out perp so he doesn't hurt anyone. Psychos like Lash I'll be able to spot and stop. And we won't have to run background checks on anyone's dates anymore, either."

"So except for the 'do no harm' bit..."

"I'll be able to help our people, too. The guys already know they can come to me if they just need to talk to someone. I've been working some of this unconsciously. Now I'll be more effective in helping them with their problems, like an unofficial councelor. And I should be able to help keep the guys sick days down, too. You know, the whole medicine man thing's not just a gag."

A thought occurred to Harry. "Do you want to use my Herbology texts? If you're going to be doing that kind of healing, they might be of some use to you."

Blair nodded. "That would be great, thanks." He turned back to Simon. "What else do you need to know?"

Simon thought about it. "This magic stuff. Regular people still aren't supposed to know about it. Can you keep it quiet? Hell, can you even use it and keep it out of the papers?"

"Yeah. I can make it so that they don't even notice it."

"Good." Simon leand back and sighed. "This stuff is still to weird for me. Have you told the kid about the other thing yet?" "The Sentinel thing" hung unspoken in the air.

"No. He slept all day yesterday because of the jet lag. And believe me, with the way wizards travel, it was a hell of a lag. We were going to tell him today while we work."

"Fine. Sounds like there's a lot for you guys to do. And you have three new cases on your desks, gentlemen. Have fun!"

Jim grinned. "You're all heart, sir."

* * *

"Krebain again? Why won't this guy give up?"

"Thick skull?"

Blair chuckled. "Probably." He sighed. "I have to get into his head. We can't use my empathy in court as evidence, just like we can't use your senses, but it can lead us to solid evidence."

Harry listened to them talk about the cases they were working on while he tried to process the information he had jsut gotten about Jim. It made a lot of sense, in a lot of ways. The wizarding community was so insular that it was hard to get a new idea through their heads, and ite was very easy for them to ignore problems, either past or present. There would have been no reason for ancient wizards to record how they had gotten their power, so the information had been lost. And the Sentinel was something that no one in the wizarding world had any inkling of. A Muggle having greater senses than your average human was not something that the purebloods would want to hear at any rate. No way would they entertain the idea that a Muggle could be naturally better than they were at anything. And it sounded like it had it's own set of problems. Sensory spikes, zone-outs? Not something to be jealous of, certainly.

Harry also got the feeling that Blair was holding something back, something that was related to him and the problems of Britain. He would ask about it later, though. He didn't want to seem rude to his hosts, and the Shaman just might be trying to figure out how to tell it to him.

Blair smiled at the young wizard's thoughts. He had no idea what was coming, and Blair had no authority to tell him that little bit of the future. If it wasn't allowed to develop naturally, it might not develop at all.

They were in the truck, headed for lunch while they talked over the new assignments that had sprung up on their desk. They had just pulled out of the drive up at HealthNutz, a health-conscious fast-food place, when Jim heard a shot ring out. Instinctively, he tapped into Blair's power and shielded the whole cab ot the truck invisibly. Blair felt it and took over the shield, simultaneously strengthening it and wresting it out of Jim's control so that the sentinel could concentrate on the matter at hand. Another shot rang out as he did so, but the truck wasn't hit, even in the shield.

Blair called in the shots while Jim started driving the truck toward the source of the sound. Harry was just glad that he'd belted himself in. He'd had enough trouble with America's reversed driving, and now Jim was all over the road as he weaved through lunch-time traffic. He was thrown forward when Jim whipped the steering wheel around and parked against the curb on the opposite side of the street.

The two cops jumped out, Blair shooting a parting admonition for Harry to stay in the truck. Jim grinned at him as they reached the door frame of the building. "You've been wanting to say that to someone for five years, haven't you."

Blair just grinned in return and they moved into the building.

By the time they got to the stair well on the fifth floor, both detectives had their game faces on, serious and focused. No one had come down the stairs, so they were careful opening the door onto the floor. There were people sticking their heads out of their own doors. One was a kid, ten or so. She pointed to the door from behind which the shots had come. Jim nodded to her and waved her back inside. The rest of the people on the floor took their cue from that signal and stuck their heads back inside their own doors. They wanted no part in it if more bullets started flying.

They stayed at the door for a moment, Jim listening in on the apartment. "One heart beat, very fast. It's in a different room, though."

Blair scanned the apartment with the empathic gift that was the most accessible part of his magic. "It's a young girl. She's not hurt physically."

Jim nodded. He tursted his partner. Still, he used the precaution of keeping his gun at the ready as they opened the door and entered the apartment. There were two bodies on the floor, both black, one male and one female. The male still had the gun in his dead hand and it looked like a murder/suicide. Sweeping with their guns, neither detective found any surprises. Jim quietly said, "Chief, you take the kid."

Blair nodded and went into the smaller of the apartment's two bedrooms. He opened the closet and found an ebony-skinned girl about Harry's age trying as hard as she could to blend in with the wood work. "Hey, it's okay. I'm with the police. I'm not going to hurt you. Come on out of there. It's safe now." He held his hand out to her to help her up out of the floor.

The girl looked up at him, fear and questions in her eyes. She seemed to find what she was looking for and took his hand. He pulled her up and held her face to his chest. "I'm going to take you out of here just like this, okay?" She nodded, not speaking at all. Blair inserted a tiny probe of thought into her mind to monitor her level of shock. It was pretty bad, but she could still understand him. He wrapped a blanket around her mind and a jacket around her head to keep her from seeing anything that would further traumatize her. He took her out of the apartment and into the hallway, nodding to Jim as he left. The Sentinel would get on his cell phone after the door was shut.

Blair sat the girl down on the floor and calmed her down just enough so that she would be able to answer questions. "You're safe, I promise. I need you to answer some questions for me so we know what happened here." The girl nodded shakily. "Good. Now, what's your name?"

"T-Tamika Watson," she stuttered.

"And how old are you?"

Fifteen."

"Okay. Can you tell me what happened here, Tamika?"

She took a shaky breath and haltingly told her story. "I came home from summer-school like I always do and cleaned up the dishes, then I went to my room to do my homework and listen to some stuff on my stereo. Mom works nights. She doesn't think I know what she does. She teels me she's a waitress. He's her boyfriend, but he's her boss, too."

"Boss?"

Tamika looked him in the eye and Blair felt a shield go up in her mind. Very surprising. That was a Shamanic ability. "Her pimp."

Blair nodded. That explained the shield. She was expecting him to judge her mother for her profession. But Blair would never do that. "Okay, what happened next?"

Tamika's expression and her shield relaxed a bit. "They came in screaming and yelling. I took off my headphones." She stopped for a moment, then said, "She screamed again, but it was different, scared. Then—" She couldn't say it as emotion caught up to her and she started to cry. Blair just held her, letting her cry while he held a mental hand out to his partner. Jim sent him a reassuring bolt of boredom. The scene was exactly as it appeared. The mother's boyfriend had shot her and then shot himself. End of story.

A few minutes later, the uniforms showed up and Jim handed the scene over to them. He called Simon and told him the story, then got another surprise. "Tamika Watson? Shit. That's one of the kids who Daryl's been tutoring." The captain's son had taken on some tutoring during his senior year in highschool as a community service project, and he had gotten close with several of the kids. "He's been playing big brother for her all year."

"Do you think you could get him to meet us at the station? She could probably use a friendly face right now."

"Yeah. He hasn't left for California yet. He was going to wait until after the Emergency Services Picnic anyway. I'll give him a call. Have the uniforms bring here up to Major Crime once he gets her to the station."

* * *

The rest of the day was fairly normal. They worked on the Krebain robberies some, just working over the evidence that had already been collected, and then they went home for the day. Harry watched CNN during the evening, trying to see if Voldemort had done anything big, but nothing showed up that could really be attributed to him. Blair said, "I have a feeling that you would know if he was doing something like that, Harry." And he pointed to the teen's scar.

Harry nodded. "I'd know if it was him. But I wouldn't necessarily know if someone else was doing it, say Malfoy."

Blair shrugged. "I guess that makes sense. But what would you do about it if you did know? The whole point of bringing you across an ocean and a continent was to keep you safe so that you could learn. You're not ready for him, Harry, and I think you know that."

Harry frowned. "I know. But I should still know what's going on." Surely Blair wasn't going to start keeping things from him like everyone else did?

But Blair smiled. "As long as you don't try and do anything insane."

Harry grinned.

That night was vision free, probably due to the bulk of the planet being between him and Voldemort, and Harry was more than grateful to Blair and Jim for taking him in. There was much to be said for putting distance between yourself and your problems, if only for a short while, not to mention the fact that he wouldn't have to feel the pain of the Cruciatus Curse or Avada Kedavra.

Their next day was spent in a section of downtown Cascade that of all of them only Ruth had ever seen before. The entrance was in the back of a small restaurant which was totally hidden from the view of Muggles in general. Jim saw both the actual building and the illusion which hid it, an image of a fenced off vacant lot with trash blowing around in it. The two were blurry and warped in and out of each other, giving him a headache if he looked too long, so he closed his eyes, letting Blair lead him until they had gotten inside.

Ruth led Blair, Jim, Simon and Harry all into the restaurant and introduced them to the owner, Robert Mae. He was a tall man with black hair and brown eyes and was very thin, like a bean pole. He congratulated Ruth on her engagement and showed them all to the back door, where the entrance to Cascade's wizarding neighborhood was nestled against a brick fence. Ruth took her wand out and raked it across seven of the bricks, which then started to shift and move out of the way with a hollow scraping sound. Ruth said, "Welcome to Goodfellow Road."

Named for Robin Goodfellow, the mischievous sprite who served Oberon, the Fairy King, Goodfellow Road was often called Puck's Row and was a riot of colors, scents and magic. It was not unlike Diagon Alley in London, but it had a distinctly American flavor. First, American wizards celebrated the entire month of July rather than just the Fourth, so the Row was full of American flags, only they weren't just colored banners but everything from animated stars and stripes to illusions floating in the air. One illusion depicted the ride of Paul Revere, only it had him riding a broom rather than a horse. Blair said, "How many of the founders were wizards?"

Ruth answered, "Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison, but no one else. They were among the first who tried to introduce magical concepts to Muggles through the use of science. Not all magic is unusable to the average human. Most Potions Masters in the States work for pharmaceutical companies. There's a lot of money in transmagical research. There's even hope that a cure for cancer might be waiting itn the wings. Anyway, those three got into a lot of trouble for revealing themselves to Muggles, but they also did a lot of good towards bridging the gap between magic and science."

They continued through the Row toward a large marble building, one of Gringott's American branches. This reminded Harry that he had no money, which he told Ruth. "Well, we should be able to get you a vault here and transfer some money from there to here."

"How do they do that? Is it anything like they do it at a Muggle bank?"

"It's totally magical, but it mimics the Muggle system, yes. Your vault in London has a spell which keeps track of the funds and other objects within it. Any money or object can be instantly transported by a simple activation of the pass-spell which is on every vault key. Each one has a different signature, so it's impossible for a key to get into a vault to which it does not belong, and anyone who was able to forge such a key would have to not only be agenius, but also have access to the original key and have a lot of time and power on their hands."

Blair said, "So it's not possible for someon to hack into the system?"

Ruth shook her head. "I won't say it's impossible to rob Gringott's, because it's happened, but the system's shields are the strongest known to man, and they're constantly being added to."

Harry frowned. "Why couldn't someone disguise themselves as a goblin and get in through the proper channels?"

"They'd have to know the right channels in the first place, and I seriously doubt there's a human alive who does."

Once inside the bank, they found out that it was going to take three hours for the transfer to be completed, so the four decided to go exploring the Row. Ruth was already planning the wedding, and all the little details that were involved in one. No matter which side of the magical scale you fall on, a wedding is a royal occasion, and there is no such thing as a simple one. Blair mentioned eloping, and Ruth told him that didn't count. This made Blair realize that he hadn't contacted Naomi yet. "I don't even know where she is."

Simon snorted. "And how is that abnormal?"

Jim grinned. "Your mom, Chief. She could be anywhere on the planet."

Harry said, "Why don't you owl her? Hedwig was able to find Sirius in South America without an address."

Blair grinned at him. "You mind if I borrow her later?"

"Not at all."

They went back to the bank to get Harry's money and Ruth's and get some of each exchanged for dollars. Harry discovered that the money had already been exchanged for American wizarding money, which was far different tha even British wizarding money. It followed the decimal system, for one, and there were five coins instead of just three. The base coin was gold, and it was called a Slug, and it was worth fifty Muggle dollars. There was then a smaller gold coin called a Snail worth Twenty dollars, a large silver coin called a Jack worth five dollars, a small silver called a Jenny worth one dollar, and a large copper called a sprat that was worth a dime. Muggle pennies were often seen floating around since they fit so well within the system, but if it was a newer zinc-cored one it was worthless.

Later, once Harry had money in hand, they went to a high end clothier. Harry needed more than just his school robesm, and all of them needed clothing for the wedding. Harry's bottle green dress robes that Mrs. Weasley had gotten for him for the Yule Ball wouldn't really go with the color scheme she wanted, which was silver and scarlet. Blair made the suggestion of merging their two cultures in the ceremony just as they would be in life. She grinned and glomped on him. With that in mind, she decided that the men would wear wizarding clothing and the women would wear Muggle clothing. Simon suggested she talk to his secretary, Rhonda, who had just recently helped to organize her sister's wedding.

The men got a crash course in wizard wedding traditions from the salesman and purchased a traditional wedding robe for blair and matching dress robes for Jim, Simon and Harry. Simon also ordered a set for Daryl, since he intended for his son to attend with him. That led to a discussion on who else Blair was going to invite to the ceremony. Under normal circumstances, Blair wouldn't have ever considered not inviting all of the Major Crime Unit, but he wasn't sure if he could do it under the anti-Muggle laws. Ruth said she would look into it and ask her Captain.

They paid for their packages and left the clothier's, deciding to get something to eat. They stopped at a small eatery and got a copy of the local wizarding paper and one of the Daily Prophet. Harry told them about all the problems they'd had with Rita Skeeter and the way that Hermione had solved the problem, which had the four of them rolling in the aisles. Many were the times that Jim or Blair had wished that they could do something similar to members of their own media.

* * *

That night, as Harry was preparing for bed, he thought hard about all that had happened over the past two weeks. Once again, his life had been fundamentally changed in a matter of moments, but he couldn't actually find himself complaining this time. He had learned a lot about the way the world really worked, and ironically it was two—well, not Muggles, but not wizards either—who had done the teaching.

And there was more to come. Blair was going to show him the spirit world and Jim was going to teach him how to fight in the Muggle way, both things that they seemed convinced he was going to need in the future, and given what Blair was, Harry was inclined to believe him. Voldemort was alive and powerful once again. There was no chance that the man—if man he could be called—was not going to come after him. But hopefully, with the aid being given him by these two men, he would be ready for it when he came.

He lay down on the sofa in Jim's living room, and sighed. One thing was for certain. The rest of the summer was going to be very interesting.

* * *

_Okay, I'm not going to even try to give a time table for the next "episode", but it will include the wedding, Harry's birthday, and some other important things. This will slowly work its way into OotP, but some very vital changes will have been made. Certain people will not die, and others will, and some people will be hired and others won't. More new characters will be introduced, and others will gain larger roles. And as usual, Naomi will leave confusion in her wake. _

_Now that I've confused you sufficiantly, I'll leave you. There will be more story, but I don't know when. Reviews, as always, are very welcome._


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